From the Moment I Walked In
by RandomGuy5916
Summary: Edwin Mariani just got a new job doing genetics research at a museum after quitting his research job at a pharmaceuticals corporation. His transition seems to be going well but after a month at working at the museum, he discovers a secret about his colleagues that leads him through a series of tales about a once thriving land, mysterious occurrences and even a little bit of romance
1. Chapter 1: Phone Calls

I had just finished a six mile jog around Chicago and I open the door to my apartment in the Logan Square neighborhood, tired out of my mind. As soon as I walked in I turned on the light, took my shoes off and started to squeeze the sweat out of my hair before taking out the hair twistee that held my hair back. I made a beeline to my shower to clean myself up. But that was not the only reason I needed a shower, I just handed in my two week notice at work last week and I need some time to reflect on where my life is going right now. After I finished my shower, I just put on some light clothes, laid on my couch and turned on the television to forget my troubles for the week.

I did not live in a large apartment, but I honestly don't care about the size, I just cared that the rent was doable, unlike the places in the Gold Coast. Sure it may not be the most luxurious place out here but this place has good wifi and is a block away from a Blue Line stop, so I'm satisfied. Although if I could change anything, I would repaint the walls because I am starting to get tired of this eggshell white color in my apartment, but I can't do it at the moment since that would be violating my lease and I do not want to be on the business end of one of Mr. Pariseau's rants. I've had the same black couch and cabinet I did at the time I was in grad school with a table between my kitchen and living room.

I then got up from the couch to get my phone off the table in the kitchen and checked my messages. So far, all that I received was one message from my mom to see how I was doing regarding my job search and I just replied "Fine. but still have not heard anything back yet. So far I have applied and sent resumes to seven different places, with absolutely no response yet. With this delay in responses, I am now starting to get nervous and questioning why I got a PhD in the first place. I then decided to try to apply to more places.

Just as I was about to log onto my Linkedin account to check my profile, my phone started ringing. I looked at the screen and it was an unknown number to me, but it had a Chicago area code, so out of curiosity I turned off the TV and answered the phone.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hello, is this Dr. Edwin Mariani?" a voice asked me.

"Yes, this is he, may I help you?"

"Hello Edwin, this is Zazu Hondo from the Field Museum's Human Resources Department, I saw that you submitted application to the Pritzker Genetics Lab a couple of days ago and the department chair thought that your qualifications match what they are looking for and was wondering at what time will you be available for a phone interview with one of our research associates." he said.

"That sounds great, how does Monday at 5:00 PM for the research associate?" I replied.

"That sounds just fine, let me check who is available during that time…ehm-hmm ...okay one of our associates will be available to speak during that time, I will inform them immediately." He said.

"Thank you, it has been a pleasure speaking to you." I replied

"You too, I hope you have a pleasant day. Bye." ["Call ended" appears on screen"]

With that call, I now feel this weight lifted from my chest, perhaps there is some hope for me.

The past two days go on uneventful, though I have been anxiously waiting for the associate from Pritzker Lab to call me back. I began to clean my lab and office since it was one of my last few days working for that damn corporation. Instead of the usual routine I usually do home when getting home to work, I just went to my bedroom waiting for my phone to ring. After half an hour and two false alarms, I heard my phone rang and I immediately placed it on speaker.

"Hi this is Edwin Mariani, how may I help you?", I practically blurted out, and a voice replied,

"Hi Dr. Mariani, this is Bupu Palahala from Field Museum's Pritzker DNA Lab and I just want to ask you a few questions about your interests in the researcher position for our lab."

"Sure Dr. Palahala, I would be happy to answer your questions?"

"Please, just call me Bupu. Okay, first of all, tell me more about yourself."

" Okay, I have been born and raised here in Chicago and ever since I was a kid I have always had a curiosity of the natural world, which eventually took form in a molecular level by the time I was in middle school. I went to a high school in which analytical and discussion-based problem-solving were highly emphasized in our curriculum, and the STEM based curriculum I had there fed my passion for biochemistry. The elements of my high school curriculum came in handy during both my undergraduate and my graduate research experiences. Even with my previous employer, the focus of my research has been within the field of genetics whether it is in evolutionary or medical applications."

"Okay, okay, it seems that you geared yourself towards research for a long time now, now tell me about some of the research experiences that you just mentioned."

"Well I have held several internships throughout my life, starting with research experiences as an undergrad at DePauw University's biochemistry and molecular biology departments, with one experience dealing with altering how biochemistry is taught during the academic year, with other projects involving the investigation of environmental conditions on protein construction at an atomic level as well as determining the effects of environmental conditions on the occurrence of genetic mutations. In one instance, I did a summer internship at the UCLA Torres Lab in investigating the molecular aspects in inheritance patterns of canary species in a specific environment and comparing the results from an experiment on that same ecosystem twenty years prior. While I was at the University of Chicago for grad school, I took part in research investigating the long-term effects of pharmaceutical leakage on the rate of genetic mutation amongst Asian carp populations. My research in the correlation between pharmaceuticals and genetics continued into my time at Genico Pharmaceuticals."

"Okay, I see that you have quite a lengthy research portfolio, certainly more than I expected. Now I would like to know why you have decided to apply to work with us at the Field Museum?"

" Well I applied to the Field Museum's genetics lab because I feel that there are more research opportunities available at the Field Museum to really investigate the origins of certain genetic phenomenon that is present in some species today by studying the genetic patterns amongst different organisms. I also feel that the Pritzker DNA Lab at the Field Museum provides a more thriving environment for a researcher to nurture their inner sense of curiosity because I felt that the environment that I have experienced at Genico Pharmaceuticals seems to be more focused on what research will make the most money instead of genuine interest in the material, and I am now uncomfortable with the environment there and I am hoping that the Field Museum will provide a more collaborative research environment than the one I have recently experienced."

"I can understand where you are coming from, I too had a time in my life in which I felt that I needed a change of environment, then regretted it for a little bit but then got used to it, but that was a long time ago before I came here,and enough about me." Bupu said apprehensively seeming to want to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"Let's just get back to your interview. Okay next question, are you able to work the occasional Saturday or Sunday for any extensive research tasks or emergencies?"

I felt a little suspicious that he changed the subject so quickly but nonetheless I answered his question anyway.

"Okay? Well yes I am certainly flexible about working on the weekends for research purposes."

"That is good to hear, and are you also available to work until nights on some days to assist and participate in long-term projects?"

"Yes I am able to work overnights, there have been times where I have had my fair share of late night shifts. I will make sure to be balanced and well-organized whenever those occasions come up, not to mention every other work day."

"Okay, do you have any questions about the position and its responsibilities?

"Oh yes, since it's May and summer is approaching, will my position involve any interactions with possible interns in the lab?"

"Well yes, we are hosting an undergraduate research experience starting later this month and the position you are applying for does include assisting interns on occasion, I hope this does not pose any problems for you."

"Oh no, not at all, I would love to help the interns out, especially when it comes to teaching them to be familiar with the equipment."

"Well Edwin, it has been a pleasure talking to you! Your application and responses will be evaluated by members of the department and you should get a response in three to four days for a possible formal interview with our department manager."

"Okay, I hope that I hear from you guys again soon."

" I hope to see you soon, you seem like a very organized applicant, and I hope you have a good week."

"Thank you, you too"

"Thank you! Bye!" ["Call Ended" appears on screen]

After that call, I really felt that I have gained some of my self-confidence back today and even when I have applied to other places, I really hope that I get the position at the museum. Although it was still a little suspicious for Bupu to rapidly change the subject in the fourth question, but overall I thought he seemed like a decent guy. Perhaps I can try to talk to him a little more if I get hired. After that, I just microwaved some leftover pasta from last night and just watched some reruns that were on TV that night. Sometimes I wish my life was a sitcom, so that any of my problems can be solved in 30 minutes, but I know that is a long way from reality.

After it was almost ten, I decided to call it a night and try to get a good night sleep to help me navigate my last few days with Genico for a hopefully better job in the future.

**Author's** **Note: **Hello Readers, this is my first FanFic ever! After reading and doing research on The Lion King/Lion Guard franchaise, I decide to make a Fanfic that combines the science fiction, workplace comedy, romance and adventure drama. At first it may seem like a boring workplace story, but things will take a sudden turn after the first six chapters. The first couple of chapters will act as a background before the main conflict sets in. Some of the locations are real but all the characters in this story are fictional


	2. Chapter 2: Leaving Genico

The next few days have been uneventful, and even when I have been accepted for interviews in some of the other places that I applied to, I am still hoping that I will receive that call from the museum, which still has not happened yet. Then Friday came, and it was my official last day at Genico Pharmaceuticals.

You would think that some of my colleagues would wish you good luck or even give you a card but so far I have not received either of that. Part of me is glad to leave this place because of the profit-centric and cold environment I have experienced since I started working there while I was in grad school, but another part of me freaking out because I have no idea where my life and research will go in the future.

I just spent my day filling out some resignation paperwork, and cleaning out my lab station for the next person who will take it. After I finished placing a new box of micropipette tips on the desk, I decided to clean out my office before I left. After I cleaned out the rest of my possessions, I was taking my packed bag with me when I heard a voice suddenly call

"Hey Edwin!"

When I turned around, I saw a familiar face of a man who had short blonde hair and blue eyes, it was just a guy who I have worked on some projects with here and there. I was surprised to see him considering that we practically never talked to each other outside of our projects.

"Oh hi Jack, is there something wrong?" I answered cautiously

"Oh no, I just wanted to say that it's going to be weird not working with you here, and it's a shame to see you go, if it's because I steal your yogurt from the fridge, I promise not to do it again."

As we started to walk down to the stairwell to the first floor I responded to his concerns, feeling a little complimented knowing that at least one person will remember me by the end of the day.

"Man, you are the first and only person to say that to me all day, and I agree it was fun to do those projects with you but I'm not leaving because of you, I'm leaving Genico because I felt that this is place is not the best place to complete the type of research I enjoy and I want to work in an environment that focuses on working for the enjoyment of research rather than competing on whose research might result in a large profit. Possibly leading to a future with actual fulfil- wait WHAT? You've been stealing my yogurt, I've always thought that one of the researcher's across the hall kept taking it."

"I guess I can understand that and you can't do anything about the yogurt, the past is the past."

"You can say that again, although some people seem to forget that."

"True, I just wish you luck on whatever research you do in the future."

"Thanks, you too!"

As we got outside, it was a little windy outside so I decided to put a light jacket over my lab coat. I turned to Jack and said.

"Well gotta get to the Red Line before the good seats are taken by the rush hour crowd."

"Are you sure you don't want me to give you a wide, because I heard some bad stuff about the Red Line and all the dangers it has. Plus I don't get why you only took your car to work on certain days because why own a care if you barely use it."

After that, I started to get defensive seeing that he has not listened to me about this topic over the past four to five years working with him.

"No thank you I am fine, and for the hundredth time, sure the Red Line might have its fair share of incidents but News Flash: CRIME HAPPENS EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD and just because crime might not happen frequently where you live, doesn't mean that it won't happen at all."

"Well I guess you got a point there, but I know that-"

"And please stop talking as if you know everything in Chicago because you live in Wilmette, you don't know shit about life in Chicago. I've been taking the Red Line since I was thirteen; I'm twenty eight now and so far nothing has happened to me. Sure there can be the occasional incident but from my experience the Red Line is an efficient and affordable way to get around the city, plus I don't have to pay a fortune on gas bills like you and FYI there's a thing called Climate Change and I want to try to reduce my car's contribution to it because I care about the future of this planet."

Jack then started to look a little tense, even when I have called out people from the suburbs on similar topics before, I guess my lecture really did a number on Jack this time and he started to speak up cautiously.

"I guess that's an understandable reason, I am sorry that I broke a nerve or something."

"It's okay, I guess sometimes I get tired of this constant misinformation, whether it is suburban people claiming they're from Chicago to suburban people trying to describe life in Chicago when they have never lived in the city. I've given these same lectures during undergrad, grad school and here and some time it's annoying to repeat these lectures."

"Don't worry Edwin, I've learned my lesson."

"Thanks, wanna stay in touch?"

"Sure, I hope you do well wherever you'll end up. See ya!"

"Thanks, see ya!"

I began to walk down the sidewalk and notice all of the buildings, people and street lights around me and it makes me think of the uncertainty of where my future will lead me to next. Will I be part of research that will give my life a sense of fulfillment, or will I find a home amongst the shadows of my insecurities. Sometimes it makes me scared thinking about the future and whether I will amount to anything or not. My only weapons against my insecurities now is determination and courage. I guess since I used them to survive four years of boredom in small-town Indiana for my undergrad years, I guess I can survive wherever my next job will be.

I finally reach the Red Line stop on Jarvis Avenue, took out my ventra card and swiped to pass through the revolving gates. As I entered the stop for the train towards 95th and Dan Ryan, I noticed that the stop is starting to get crowded, looks like I made it just before the major rush hour crowding. As soon as the train arrived I rushed on to grab on the first pole that I can find. I have always found it relaxing to see the buildings and trees pass as the train car moves before it goes underground after Fullerton. I eventually got of Lake to transfer to the Blue Line through the Pedway.

The pedway is now covered inch to inch by people in the middle of rush hour. I eventually made it to the Washington Blue Line stop towards O'Hare and I just made it to see the doors open, practically rushing in the crowded car. As soon as I grabbed the nearest pole, the doors close, followed by the next stop in the line, following with the message from the intercom:

Your safety is important. If you observe any unauthorized packages, vandalism or suspicious activity, report it to CTA personnel immediately, Thank you for riding CTA.

When the train eventually stopped at the Logan Square stop, I got off the train carrying my bag with me, and I climbed the stairs to reach the surface again. I live fairly close to the stop so I just had to walk a block to get back home. As soon as I entered my apartment, I undid my ponytail to let my hair drop to my shoulders and dropped my body onto the couch after the day I just had. I was near falling asleep when my phone started to ring. I looked at the number and it was a Chicago area code so thinking it was one of the places I applied to, I answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hello Edwin?" a familiar voice sounded

"Yes?"

"Hi, this is Bupu from the Pritzker Lab at the Field Museum, and I am pleased to inform you that your qualifications have interested our lab manager and they would like to have a formal interview with you to see if our lab will be a good fit with you."

"Oh my! That is great to hear, I will be honored to participate in the interview. I am glad to have the opportunity to get to know more about the department. Is there a time that the lab manager has in mind for the interview?"

"Yes she told me that anytime between Monday and Thursday would work for, she prefers that you wear business professional attire and I will email you a temporary special access pass for you to get through security"

"Okay thanks, and how does Tuesday at 10:00 sound?"

"Let me check the schedule she gave me…...okay she is actually a little busy during that time, how does that same day at 12 sound?"

"Sounds good, tell her that I am looking forward to talking with her then!"

"I will, I am looking forward to hearing about it and good luck!"

"Thanks! Have a good day!"

"Thanks! Bye!"

"Bye!" [Call ended appears on screen]

I felt a new sense of energy and relief knowing that I might have a research position in my future, right after I quit Genico. But then I just realized that I just have four days to prepare for the interview and I need to get started my preparation immediately, but then I saw the inbox on my computer screen and then thought

I should probably check on these twelve unread emails first.


	3. Chapter 3: No, I'm Not Giving a Lecture

Over the weekend I have been prepping my responses to potential interview questions that might answer. I've been looking up possible questions they might ask me, looking up some of the work the lab has previously done, and wrote how I would respond to possible interview questions on index cards. I have spent hours reviewing my material for this interview, even going as far as thinking of my responses to these possible questions during my jog and even trying going into the hallway outside my apartment to rehearse, but I had to prepare elsewhere since I was accidentally causing my neighbor's dog to bark and I do not want to be a contributor to a noise complaint.

As I returned to my apartment from doing some groceries, I heard my phone ding and I saw that it was another text from my mom. Sure sometimes her frequent texts can be a bit much at times but compared to the rest of my family, she and I have a close relationship, as well as the only family member that really still talks to me in a level that is more than the occasional "Happy Holidays!" text. So we just texted each other for a little bit that day with me discussing the Field Museum interview and she discussing what happened at her job over the past week, which in my mind seems as if she is telling me the same as she told me last week, and the week before that, and the week before that...you get my point.

After that I just scrolled through my Instagram account out of boredom, mostly seeing the nature photos I've taken along with food pictures my friends have taken, still unsure why would people take pictures of their food anyway. After that, I just cooked up a small pasta dish, ate a bowl of it and went to bed.

The next two days were really focused on preparing for my interview, going over the questions I looked up, laying out my clothes for the day of the interview, printing my resume and special access pass. All of that preparation came to an end by the time I fell asleep Monday night

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

I wake up to the noise and saw that it was five in the morning on my alarm. I turned the alarm off, and as part of my daily routine, I got myself ready for the day, plus shaving my face in order to avoid having any stubble during the interview. Though I had to wash my face some more for that aftershave irritation to wear off. After that, I just had a bowl of cereal for breakfast while watching the news, and after I finished my bowl, I placed it in the sink and went to my room to get dressed.

The attire I chose was nothing really unique, it was just a white button-down shirt, black dress pants with a matching jacket, and a navy blue tie. I practically wore this exact some thing on the day I received my doctorate in, actually I think that I'm wearing the tie from that event.

I then grabbed my hair and placed it in a ponytail to prevent my own hair from getting in my way for this job. I then grabbed my things and left my apartment. Even when I mostly take the CTA for transportation, I decided to take my car to the interview because I don't want to risk getting a stain on my jacket before the interview. After walking out of my building, I turned around the corner and walked twelve feet to where my car is parked. I have driven this car for seven year and barely use it, so I was not surprised to find dust on the dashboard. After wiping away the dust, I started the car and began my trip to the museum.

I am glad that I left early because there was a bit of a traffic jam and it took me some time to find a shortcut and after 30 minutes, I finally started to approach the museum. I approached the parking lot, and was reminded of one of the reasons that I do not take out my car frequently: paying for parking. But since I had a job interview to go to, I paid the attendant the 25 dollar guest parking fee and found a spot for my car. After I got out of my car and locked the doors, I started my walk towards the museum. I felt both excited and nervous at the same time because whether I get the job or not, I've felt as if I was starting my life all over again.

I arrived around forty five minutes early, so I decided to climb the large staircase in the main entrance to try to walk some of my anxiety away. When I reached the top, I opened the heavy glass doors that were there and I noticed that the main floor was not very crowded, but it was a Tuesday, and that's not necessarily a popular day for tourists.

To get to the interview, I needed to get through the security desk, so I waited in a short line until it was close to the desk. While mentally preparing myself for the interview, I heard a female voice call out "NEXT!"

Now out of my self-induced trance, a security women with dark blonde hair was gesturing towards me to come to her desk with a seemingly irritated expression on her face. I came to her desk taking out my driver's license and special access pass from my pocket.

"Hi, I'm sorry if I seemed distracted earlier, I guess I'm just a little distracted today, here's my license and special access pass" placing both documents on the desk. While taking both, she said

"Okay no problem, but next time become distracted after you pass security." She then takes a look at my documentation and notices my special access pass and I guess out of curiosity she then brought her attention back to me.

"I see you have a pass to go to the genetics lab, are you giving a lecture or something?"

I let out a small laugh and answered "Oh no I'm not giving a lecture. Although I wish I was because I would know what to study for that. I'm actually going for a job interview, I am interested in the researcher position in their lab so wish me luck."

After she scanned my pass and checked my license, she then gave them back to me.

"Oh okay, I wish you luck in you interview, and I'm sure that it'll go well."

"Thanks, I just hope that's true and I hope you have a nice day."

"Thanks! You too!"

I passed through the desk to the main plaza, seeing that it is more spacious compared to if it were on a Friday or Saturday, so I got to the base of the beige staircase in two minutes. I see that compared to the last time I have been in this museum, not much has changed other than the gigantic Titanosaur skeleton in the lobby, which made me what happened to the T-Rex skeleton that used to be there.

"Hmm...That's new! But to be fair it's been like five or six years since I've last been to this museum."

As I climbed up the stairs, I saw another change, alongside the bust of Stanley Field, a new bust is seems to be going up, but I honestly cannot tell since the pillar is covered with a brown tarp with caution tape surrounding it.

Then turned right to climb another set of beige steps until I reached the second floor and I walked in the hall where the exhibits and labs were towards my left and to my right was the railing in which one can overlook the first floor displays.

I eventually arrived at the labs, which had the name _Pritzker DNA Discovery Center_, knowing that I have arrived at the right place. I noticed that there is a window in which tourists and passer-bys can see the researchers work, and from what I see through the window, the lab seems to be in pristine condition. In the area in front of the window, outside the lab is a railing with informational tablets on both the lab's research and some general concepts in the field of genetics.

I eventually walked pass the DNA model statue in that plaza, and made my way to the entrance to the labs and office space, so I started to take my license and pass for the security guard by the door.

Even when I have the credentials to enter the lab, I couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated by the security guard. He was like six foot five and has a muscular built, so I was thinking that I probably should not mess with this guy. As I approached the guy I noticed that he seemed to be around the same age as me. He seemed to notice me approach the gate, and surprisingly he seemed to have smiled and then asked:

"Oh hello sir, may I help you with something?"

I just casually replied, "Yes, I am here for an interview with Pritzker's lab manager to interview for the researcher position here. Here is the special access pass for this lab."

He looks at the pass while asking me "Okay, no problem, are you just giving a lecture or something?"

"Hahaha...no I'm not, though you are actually the second person to ask me that. I am actually going to be interviewed to try to get the researcher position here. I'm suppose to see the lab manager, a Dr. Ma Tembo Ndefu I believe their name is, do you know who I am talking about?."

The guard soon used a device to scan my pass, which he then gave back to me along with my license, and seemed to have lightened up when I mentioned the lab manager.

"Man! That's so cool! I would not worry about the interview too much, Ma Tembo is such a nice person to talk to and as long as you show that you take your work seriously, you'll be fine!"

"I just hope that's true"

The guard proceeded to open the door and then gesturing for me to come with him with a "Right this way" soon after. I followed him into a white hallway, with entrances to the main lab on one side with a few doors indicating office spaces in the main area. He then led me towards the right of the hallway, where a couple of chairs are leaned against the wall.

"Just sit in this area, and I will notify someone to be with you in just a few minutes."

"Okay, thanks"

He then left the hallway for me to wait for the lab manager. The hallway seemed similar to one I saw when I worked at Genico, white paint and white floors with a research poster or two on the wall, but one thing stood out. Next to a research poster was an oil painting of what looks like a grassy area with a rock formation that almost looks like an L. Whoever painted this seemed to have been attentive to details because the textures present in this piece were very intricate and fastidious.I then turned back to make sure that I have written everything down that I needed in the resume and curriculum vitae that are in my hands.

A few minutes passed by when I heard a door open in front of me and I saw a woman who looked to be in her early fifties, she was almost the same height as the security guard, but slightly taller. I also noticed that she had black hair with a few gray streaks tied into a bun, wearing silver-framed glasses with a white blouse covered by a black jacket and a black knee length skirt.

This woman approached me with a seemingly neutral demeanor but then started to form a light smile on her face.

"Excuse me? Are you by any chance Edwin Mariani?"

"Yes that would be me, Professor Ndefu?"

"Yes that's me, but please just call me Ma Tembo, it's nice to meet you."

She then reached her hand out in front of me and I reached mine out to shake it and after a five second handshake she gestured me to follow her.

"Come with me so that we can get started with this interview."

As I followed her, we approach a door with her name written on the wall next to it, assuming that this is her office. As she opened that door, I just had a feeling that either way the interview goes from the moment I walk inside, my life will never be the same.


	4. Chapter 4: The Interview

As I walked into Ma Tembo's office, it seems typical of what I have seen a researcher or lab managers office would look like, a pc and a laptop each on different desks with paperwork present on each desk, some molecular models, a bookshelf and filing cabinet, posters of intricate biochemical and genetic structures complimented with a few personal photos. But one thing that stood out to me was that there was also the presence of elephant imagery in her office. I mean, she had a few elephant figurines in one of her desks, a few pictures of elephants on the wall and even a quilt with the image of an elephant on it. Don't get me wrong, elephants are very interesting animals, but I have not seen that much imagery of elephants in one place in my life. But on the other hand, now is not the time to question about her personal habits because I have an interview to get through. Ma Tembo grabbed a folder with some paperwork in it and after she told me to take a seat, she began to reference to the paperwork at hand.

"Okay Edwin, it says here that you earned your undergraduate degree at DePauw University in 2013, double majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular/Cellular Biology, can you describe your research experiences during that time period?"

"Okay, so I have done on-campus research experiences every fall semester since my sophomore year, along with the spring semester of my senior year, the summer after my sophomore year and one off-campus internship in the summer of 2012 at UCLA's Torres Lab. The research I did during my sophomore year focused on how to improve chemistry and biochemistry education across college campuses, while the sophomore summer research focused on the influence of ecological conditions on inheritance patterns. My later undergrad research involved the investigation of the effects of environmental conditions on protein construction and genetic mutation prevalence. The summer experience at the Torres Lab involved an analysis of the molecular aspects of the evolution of different canary species compared to results from a prior experiment twenty years prior."

I felt exhausted after saying that, though I tried to maintain a neutral face during the interview.

"Okay, that research sounds very fascinating, I have always been a fan of how environmental factors impact the evolution of any organism's genetic footprint. Okay, I also see that you have recently earned your PhD in Biochemistry last year from the University of Chicago, and can you describe your research during and since that time?"

"Oh yeah, that was a unique period in my research, so during that time I began to research the correlations between pharmaceuticals and genetics. I remember this experience in which in which I had to research the long-term changes in the sequences of Asian Carp populations near former pharmaceutical dumping sites. That work correlating genetic sequencing with pharmaceuticals eventually lead me to work as a lab technician and eventual researcher at Genico Pharmaceuticals, where I have participated in research in the long-term impacts on certain pharmaceuticals on the rate of genetic mutations and the pharmaceutical applications of CRISPR-CAS9."

"Okay, interesting, and what was the reason why you left your previous employer?"

"I left Genico Pharmaceuticals because I honestly felt that the research environment there seemed to be more focused on research that will make large profits, and I felt that was not the type of environment in which I would want to do the research that I truly want to do. I also felt that the communication between me and my former colleagues leaves a lot to be desired, both inside and outside of work, and I thought that remaining at that type of environment would be detrimental to my focus in research. I am just fine working in competitive environments, I've done it since high school, it's just that many of my former colleagues seem to be more focus on 'winning the competition' rather than gaining a deeper understanding of the research."

"I see, well I can totally understand why you left then, intricate and multi-faceted research should be conducted in an environment that allows a scientist to nurture their inner curiosity in all facets of a particular discipline. You story kind of reminds me of how I navigated between research environments before coming here. So, how did you hear about us and what made you interested into applying here?"

"Well my grad school mentor from UChicago recommended me to apply here when hearing there was an opening here, from my reference contact information she is listed as Professor Padmini Dholia. She told me that she worked with a few researchers here on one of her previous projects and how she thought that doing research would be ideal for my background in genetics and biochemistry. I have decided to apply here because first of all, I have always had an interest in evolutionary genetics and second, I have been going to this museum several times since I was a child and it was one of the places that helped spark my early interests in the natural sciences and I felt that this museum and its laboratories will help me spark the same curiosity to aid me through my research. Also based on what Pr. Dholia told me, I heard that there is a good sense of communication and camaraderie between the researchers here and I thought that would be a much better environment to work in compared to the one I experienced in Genico."

"Oh yes, I actually worked with Padmini on an evolutionary genome project a few years ago. Lovely woman! I can guarantee that we do our best to nurture a sense of curiosity of camaraderie amongst each person in our department and even with people in other departments in the museum. I guess you can describe us as a kind of intricate balance of some sort. So the next thing I would like to ask you is if there has been a time where you had to work with someone you did not get along with and if so, how did you handle the situation?"

" Well there was this one time back at Genico like two years ago, where I worked with this other researcher on a project testing a new pharmaceutical product, and this person who I worked with was the type of person who wanted to rush on things and get them over with, so after finding that one of our newly synthesized products had a low mutation rate, this person thought that the drug would be safe to bring to the market after only two months of testing but I thought that additional testing needed to be done to see if there are any changes of function during prolonged exposure to specific climates. This caused us to have a heated discussion, in which we decided to discuss with our lab manager during this time and after we presented both sides of what we should do next, the lab manager and other researcher eventually agreed with me that additional testing would actually be necessary for the drug to study the correlation of environmental impact and the drug's function, as well as how to properly dispose the drug so that the distribution of this drug will not cause a detrimental environmental impact. After this discussion with the lab manager, I would say that the work relationship between me and this other researcher had improved for the remaining duration of this project."

"Okay, that is quite an interesting story, it kind of reminds me of this one time a while back in which some of the other leaders and I had to talk to the ki...Actually, I was thinking of something else outside of work but I can sympathise with you because over my experience in both research and colleagues, I have had my fair share of disagreements due to the debate of which method is better. Let's move on to the next question."

While she was turning the page in her folder, I was curious of why she suddenly refused to tell that story she was about to say. Kind of reminded me of Bupu during the phone interview after one of the questions. But I just brushed it aside for now.

"Okay Edwin, the researcher position will involve the occasional assistance of interns, especially the ones coming this summer, does this impose any types or challenges for you?"

"Oh I would not mind at all, I would be honored to help the interns out, I remembered a few times during my intern days in which I could have really used the help of a mentor. I feel that aiding and guiding today's interns is one of my responsibilities as a scientist to prepare such fields as biochemistry, genetics and other fields for the next generations."

"I am glad to hear your enthusiasm to help us out! While doing research if the event comes up in which you and another researcher had conflicting results after you both individually reproduced the same experiment, what would you do to resolve the situation?"

"If that ever came up, then I probably would suggest to the other researcher that we look at both of our experimental procedures to see if any part of out procedure cause the deviation in both of our results, and then we would both conduct the same experiment again to ensure that we will have more similar results for this particular experiment."

"Okay, and what would you do in the even when a piece of equipment becomes inoperable?"

" In that kind of scenario, that would depend on the piece of equipment because there are some pieces of equipment such as micropipettes and hot plates in which I actually have experience in repairing, but for most cases of broken equipment, I would report to either the supervisor, lab manager or equipment specialist so that the equipment can be fixed as soon as possible. If it involves equipment that I need to use for my research, then I would still notify an equipment specialist of the malfunctioning equipment but will also see ifa second piece of that equipment would be available for me to use for my research."

"Okay, how would you handle an accidental spill of potentially biohazardous material?"

"In the spill of any biohazardous material, I would perform the procedure that is listed for that substance and call the . If the material is of an unknown nature, then I would call the biohazards unit immediately to handle the spill, alert everyone else in the lab, and follow all other necessary safety precautions to deal with the spill."

"Okay, and one more question, since you said you had experience in researching the evolutionary genetics of canary species, how would you approach extracting a strand of DNA from a canary skeleton?"

I started to become a little nervous because I never thought that they would throw in a random question like that. But to be fair, Genico asked me how I was going to synthesize a hypothetical carbohydrate during my interview with them, so I was probably walking into a question like that.

"Well after extracting a small piece of the bone, freeze the piece in liquid nitrogen, and grind the piece into a fine powder. Then I would use place the bone powder in an extraction buffer, preferably 0.5 M EDTA and proteinase K at a 5:2 ratio. After that, I will concentrate the solution using a centrifuge and then filter the solution with a centrifugal filter in order to purify any strands of DNA from the sample. After extracting the sample of DNA, I would use PCR to copy the strand, so that it can be sequenced and then analyzed with gel electrophoresis to be compared with the patterns of other organisms within the laboratory database."

"Okay, interesting, interesting.." while Ma Tembo continued to write stuff on her notepad. "Okay, Edwin, do you have anymore questions or anything else that you want to tell me about yourself?"

"Well this is not related to my research background, but I am also fluent in French and I am a very organized and fastidious person who works well with people."

"Okay, well it has been a pleasure to speak with you and you will hear from us within three or five days with our response."

"Thank you, I've enjoyed talking to you too and I hope that I will hear from you soon."

"Gladly, I hope to speak with you too. I hope you have a good day."

"You too." I just firmly shook her hand, and she flashed a friendly smile. I then walked out the door and I placed my papers back in my bag as I got back out to the main hallway.

As I got back to the main hallway, it was now 1:30 in the afternoon and the area became slightly more crowded. While walking towards the stairwell, I bumped into the security guard from earlier and he seemed to have noticed me and began to approach me.

"Hey Edward, how did your interview go?"

"Oh hey, my name is actually Edwin, and the interview was actually better than I expected thanks for asking, how has your day been?"

"It's been fine, though I basically had to tell kids not to touch the artifacts or tap the glass like twelve times today times today."

"Oh I totally understand, kids are extremely curious, and sometimes they can be mischievous in the process"

"I know, but even how annoying it can be sometimes, it is a delight to see children so curious about the world around them."

"Yeah, kind of reminds me of when I was a kid, I used to come to this museum at least once or twice a year. I used to beg my parents for a membership to the museum, but we couldn't afford it at the time."

"That's too bad, hopefully, if you get the job here, you could come here for free everyday."

"Hopefully, if only my seven-year old self could hear that, I would have probably moved into the museum somehow."

We both shared a laugh and then I realized that I never asked for his name.

"Oh, I am sorry for not asking you this earlier, but I didn't catch your name."

"Oh it's no problem, my name's Beshte by the way, it has been nice meeting you, and I hope you get that researcher position, I really would like to get to know you more."

"Thanks, I hope so too, see you later Beshte."

"See ya Edwin"

I continued to walk towards the stairwell and along the way, I noticed a woman passing by me and suddenly I felt this sense of allure thrust upon me. She was quite attractive and one thing that I seemed to notice was that she had streaks in her hair that almost seem like an indigo-purplish color. She then turned around and I tried to compose myself to try to not make a fool of myself by just looking at my surroundings while giving her a gentle nod from like ten feet away. She just smiled, nodded in return, and went back to her path. The strangest thing about that encounter was that I thought that I saw that she had purple eyes. It's probably just the lighting of the area made them look purple when they're might actually be blue. At least I didn't make a fool of myself tod...THUD

I turned back to the path I was going and I accidentally bumped into this old lady's walker and then the lady yelled

"Hey! Watch where you are going young man? Can't you see that we were walking in front of you?!"

"Oh I am so sorry ma'am, I guess I got a little distracted."

"Just watch where you're going next time, and get a haircut! were you raised in a barn?"

Okay, putting that moment aside, I thought that my day went slightly better than expected. I went down the stairs, exited the building and got in my car in the parking lot. I started my drive back home initially without a hitch, but that changed when I approached Lake Shore Drive and I accidentally entered one of the biggest traffic jams that I have seen this year. I then waited and inched for the time being. With irritation, I thought to myself,

This is why I take public transportation most of the time


	5. Chapter 5: Getting Introduced

It has been three days since my interview at the Field Museum and so far I have heard no response back yet, but I have not been lounging around for the past three days. Over the two days since the interview, I have been keeping up on some of my other applications and even did another phone interview for one place which I am still waiting for a response.

On that particular Friday afternoon, I was returning to my apartment after meeting up with an old friend downtown, and after I adding money on my ventra card at the Blue Line stop, I heard that my phone ring. I saw that it was an unidentified number with the same area code as the two earlier calls from the Field Museum, so I just sat on the nearest bench outside the stop and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Dr. Mariani speaking?"

"Yes, this is he?"

"Oh hi Edwin, this is Ma Tembo from the Field Museum Pritzker Laboratory, I would like to start off by saying Congratulations! We found your qualifications to be the best fit for a research position with us and welcome to our team!"

"Oh my! Thank you for this honor! I will do my best to provide and conduct reliable research for you guys!"

"I'm sure that you will, and to help you transition for your first day Monday, I was wondering if you are able to swing by our human resources department to fill out some entry forms and paperwork, along with taking your museum ID photo."

"Sure, what time would you recommend for me to swing by?"

"How does tomorrow at noon sound?"

"Sure, that sounds fine with me, I guess I'll see you then."

"Okay then. Bye."

"Bye" [Call Ended Appears on Phone Screen]

I placed my phone back in my pocket, and started the walk towards my apartment. I opened the door and jumped on my couch with relief in knowing that I'll have a job within the next few days. But along with relief, I also developed a sense of curiosity about what the job will be like. I just kept staring at the ceiling fan and listening to music all night, playing every possible scenario of how my new job will end up. Wondering if it will be as joyous as the time I got my PhD or embarrassing as the time when my undergrad organic chemistry professor roasted me in front of the entire class for accidentally wearing my lab goggles outside of the organic lab one time. What it will actually be? Well only the future can tell.

I got up the next morning, gathered my social security card, some of my tax forms and my pass to the museum's human resources department. Placed the paperwork in my bag and drove my car back to the museum. I got to the parking lot, paid 25 dollars to the attendant, got out of the car, go in through the lower floor entrance instead of the main floor entrance to see if I could avoid the Saturday crowd that's probably on the main floor.

I went inside and it was just a white marble entry room with two security desks in front and behind them was a hallway with some carpeting in the middle and the entrances to a few exhibits on the side, with a few display cases around the area. I approach a desk with this security guard who had short red hair and glasses with thin white frames. I went to the desk, placed my pass and driver's license on the desk.

"Excuse me sir, do you know where do I go to get to the human resources department?"

From the computer screen he was staring at, the guard just rose his pupils to about my level and blankly replied, "Just go upstairs to the main floor, and when you reach The Field Bistro, there is a hallway near the entrance and at the end of the hallway will be a door labeled 'Human Resources Department'."

"Oh okay..thank you" I replied in curiosity to why this guards eyes are glued to the screen.

I walked up the staircase and navigated through the crowd that was around me in the main floor. I forgot how crowded museums can get on weekends, especially in the late spring and summer. It took me about ten minutes to navigate through the crowd, but I finally reached the hallway near the bistro. I saw the Human Resources Department sign by the door. I entered to see a small waiting room with like two or three chairs lined up against the two walls of the room and a receptionist desk in the middle.

The receptionist was just a guy with short black hair wearing glasses, a white dress shirt, a black jacket and a name tag. I took a closer look at the name tag and it had the name Zazu H. on it. The name sounded familiar but I can't exactly put my finger on it.

"Excuse me sir, my name is Edwin Mariani, I believe that I have an appointment with the director of human resources at twelve a-clock."

He then took his eyes back to his computer screen

"Okay, let me just check the system...Oh yes, the new genetics research hire...I believed that we spoke on the phone approximately two weeks ago, I was the one who first notified about the phone interview with Dr. Palahala?"

"Oh yeah, when I walked in and saw your name tag, I was thinking that your name seemed familiar to me."

"Alright then, I will notify the Human Resources Director of your arrival."

"Oh no need for that Zazu, cause I'm already here." A mysterious third voice pops out, with a frightened Zazu turning back to this new guy who suddenly appeared. Even I was surprised because I did not see this guy enter.

"Rafiki, how many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that", Zazu replied in frustration, before going back to the computer screen.

Even when he was wearing a dark gray button-down shirt and black pants, he looked like an old rocker in a way. Even when I also have long hair, his hair was longer than mine, which was complemented with a beard that nearly touched his chest and a cane that looks as if he just grabbed a fallen tree branch and pruned the smaller branches off.

"Hi, I'm sorry if I am interrupting something here, but are you by any chance the director of Human Resources?" I nervously chimed in.

"Oh no problem, and yes I am the Human Resources director, you can just call me Rafiki, the whole mister-last name thing just seems a bit stuffy in my opinion." He then presented his hand for a handshake.

I grabbed his hand for a shake and it was surprisingly firm from what I expected of someone that age. He seemed to have a more nonchalant manner than I would expect a person in human resources to be. I just relaxed my shoulders just followed him down the hallway.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Rafiki, I'm Edwin, if you haven't already figured it out."

He then lead me to a room in which appeared to be a small conference room that had a rectangular table with a few chairs around it, but to the side there is a smaller rectangular desk with two computers that appear to be maybe four or five years old. He pulled out a chair and gestured his hand towards it with some of the paperwork he was holding.

"Here, have a seat, to help us officially enter you into the genetic research team, Ma Tembo sent me these online forms for you to fill out to help you transition your tax and financial forms from your previous employer, along with some orientation items for all researchers who decide to join one of our labs. Oh..and these papers are just some lab disclaimers for people specifically in the genetics labs. After you finish these forms, meet me in the room across the hall for some remaining paperwork and for you ID photo."

"Okay, no problem." I replied, with that, he just walked out of the room and I began to fill out the surveys and paperwork, which was practically the same stuff I filled out when I first joined Genico. It was just filling out a W-2 form, some additional background information and lab safety disclosures. This survey also included instructions to some of the equipment present in the lab, many of which I have already learned to use through previous experiences.

After I finished, I went across the hall to find Rafiki setting up some kind of screen on an easel and a camera five feet to the right. I gave him the documents that I just signed and he just placed them in a folder.

"Thank you Edwin, you can just sit on that stool in front of the screen for your ID photo. Just sit there, straighten your back and neck. Oh and relax your shoulders a bit, you look kind of tense."

He pressed a button on the digital camera and he suddenly realized something "Oops! My bad I forgot to turn the camera on." He then pressed the button and checked something on his laptop. After what was like three or four minutes of trying to organize himself and figure out what he is doing.

"Okay, I finally figured out this camera-laptop-program thing, just sit there and stand still and okay in one..two..three...and" He said while pressing the button, while in my mind I was starting to grow impatient when the camera flash finally appeared.

"Okay, all set Edwin, I'm sorry for the delay, I sometimes get flustered with these devices, if you couldn't tell, I'm more of a portrait/painting person." Rafiki said as he closed his laptop.

"It's okay, it can happen sometimes." I replied, even though I was still a little intrigued because I know people who have retro preferences but don't portraits take hours to complete? I guess this guy has a strong sense of patience.

He then turned a copier that was in the room and then his eyes directed towards me, "Alright Edwin, let me just borrow a valid ID and social security card so that I finish your file."

Since this was routine in many of the jobs or paid research experiences I was involved him, I gave him the social security card and driver's license without hesitation.

He then placed them into the copier, which he then pressed the button for two sheets of paper to come out. After placing those two sheets in a beige folder he turned to me. "Okay Edwin, your file is now set, you will receive your museum ID at some point next week, and Ma Tembo requests that you to start heading upstairs to her lab and she'll just show you around her lab so that you can get familiar with the lab and where the equipment is."

Then I heard this ringing all of the sudden, Rafiki then takes his phone from his pocket and looks at the screen. "Oh it now time for me to meditate for today, have a good afternoon Edwin." He said before he starts walking into a closet that was in the room.

I began to tell him "Oh sir, I think that room might actually be a.." then he closed the door without hearing me. "...Supply closet." He then gently opened the door back open by a crack.

"Oh I know this is a closet, but where else am I supposed to get peace and quiet." Rafiki said, while closing the door.

_Okaaay?_, I thought, and spend my trip upstairs wondering if what I saw was just real. I wondered how this guy ended up working for Human Resources.

When I reached upstairs, I arrived back at the Pritzker Lab entrance, but instead of that guy Beshte, this was a different security guard with long red hair and a little bit of a beard, thinking that perhaps this guy works Beshte's shifts during the weekends. Before I could say anything to the security guard, Ma Tembo opens the door, we exchanged some pleasantries and she just showed me around the lab and told me where all the equipment, supplies and computers are located. She then asked me to follow her to her office again, she then opened a folder on her desk and took out a slip of paper.

"Here is your temporary ID pass, which you will use until your official ID is issued." She stated

"Okay, thank you Professor Ndefu." I said sticking with formalities just to seem professional.

"Actually, I just prefer Ma Tembo; I'm not the biggest fan of those professor-doctor titles, they're a bit stuffy in my opinion." She replied with a slightly more stern tone.

"Okay, no problem Ma Tembo." I replied in a casual yet surprised tone.

"Well, I'll see you at your first day Monday to introduce you to our team." She said while reaching her hand towards me and I grabbed it in return for a gentle handshake

"I can't wait to meet the rest of you guys." I replied, waving her goodbye in the process. I eventually left the laboratory, thinking of all the ways my first day will end up. This was a neat preview of what I'm going to get myself into, and there were several surprises during this visit. For example, I understand some people's desire to be casual in the workplace, but in my experience I have never really seen anyone that strongly against the professor or doctor titles as I have seen today, though I honestly didn't mind it. I also wonder why that human resources guy thought a supply closet would be an appropriate place for workplace meditation. Despite these surprises, I'm still excited to work there and I guess every place has its quirks.


	6. Chapter 6:The First Day (Part 1)

BEEP…...BEEP….. BEEP…...BEEP…... BEEP…... BEEP…..BEEP…. BEEP

I wake up to the sound of my alarm clock blasting at 5 AM, I turned it off and then I realized that it's my first day at the museum. So I did my morning routine shower, shave and wardrobe routine. In the process I usually place my hair in a ponytail, but I thought that since I am starting a new job, I should place my hair in a bun.

I went to the kitchen, poured myself a bowl of cereal, sat in front of the TV and just watched the news for a bit. At 6:45, I began to gather my things which included the bag with my laptop, lab notebooks and papers in it. I also grabbed a brown paper bag and placed a turkey sandwich and a small container of salad in there for my lunch because I don't know how much the food costs and I cannot afford to take that risk at the moment. So I left my apartment and walked to the Blue Line stop and got on the train towards Forest Park. After getting on the train, I just tried to look out the window to see if the passing light could help me calm down. I then got off the Blue Line and transferred to the Red Line stop at Jackson, and that is when I saw _her_ again. It was that woman I saw after my interview with the black hair and strands of indigo. She just seemed to be talking to the person next to her, and I took my phone out so just in case if she notices me, she would think I was just scrolling through my phone instead intentionally trying to catch a glimpse of her. After only five minutes I hear the CTA intercoms blare out

_This is Roosevelt, doors open on the left at Roosevelt_

This was my stop, so I got off from my seat and exited the train. When I reached street level, the weather was warm but not hot, with a gentle breeze from the lake to help cool me down on occasion. As I was walking in the direction of the museum, I noticed that the woman from the train fifty feet in front of me and since I saw her at the museum that one time, I suppose she just also works there and this is her same route to work.

After around ten minutes, I got to the museum and after the woman in front of me entered, I entered through the glass doors and there were two or three long desks which were for visitors to check in and a separate desk for employees to sign in. So I got in the line, I checked the time on my phone, and I was relieved to find out that it was 7:30 because I usually like to arrive to work early. While I was checking my phone screen, I then heard a voice call out

"Hey Edwin! Over here!"

So I got my eyes off the screen and I saw that it was Beshte who called me from the desk, who was calling me because I was next in line to check in. I walked up to the desk and I took my temporary ID out of my pocket.

"Hey Beshte, just in case you didn't figure it out already, I got the job! Oh, and here is my temporary ID for this week." After he placed my ID on the counter and reached for a high-five

"Congrats! I can't wait to get to know you more!" He replied

"Thanks, I wish I could have told you during my orientation Saturday, but some other guard was in front of the lab."

With a little bit of realization, he replied, "Oh yeah, I think you're talking about Kion, he sometimes works on Saturdays, did he had long red hair?"

"Oh yes, he did!" I replied.

"Okay, that was definitely Kion you saw." Beshte stated, while he was checking my ID through the scanner, eventually giving the ID back to me.

"Okay, have a good first day." He said

"You too!" I replied

After only five or six steps, I heard one of the other security guards raise their voice.

"Bunga! For the fifth time, stop throwing paper airplanes onto my desk, it is driving me crazy," a female voice said.

"Oh come on Fuli, what am I supposed to do before eight?" A male voice next to her said.

"Well I don't know, maybe actually do some work, that's why we come here in the first place." Fuli replied sarcastically.

I snickered a little bit from hearing this banter. I eventually reached the staircase with the white tarp covering something the center. I went to the entrance to the genetics lab and I gave my ID to the security guard by the entrance. After he scanned and gave back my ID, I entered through the doors into the lab and I decided to swing by Ma Tembo's office to let her know I'm here. So I went to her office door and it was slightly ajar, but I decided to knock on it anyway just out of respect.

"Come in" she said. I walked into the office and I noticed that she was just looking at some stuff on her laptop. She then looked towards me and started to smile.

"Oh hi Edwin, it's a pleasure to see you! I almost forgot that you start working with us today. Let me just finish this email so I can introduce you to the rest of our team."

"Okay, no problem." I replied. I waited for only a minute or two, again browsing at the painting with the strange rock formation again. I kept wondering why the artists painted the rock formation that particular way. Was it based off a real location or was it something from their imagination. I then heard Ma Tembo's door open and she walked out with her lab coat on, she seems to notice that I was looking at the painting.

"Ah I see you noticed one of Rafiki's paintings." Ma Tembo said.

"Wait? The human resources director painted this? I remembered him telling me that he was into painting portraits and such but I didn't realize he actually did art for the museum."

"Actually he does not usually do art for the museum, it was more of a personal gift to try to make us feel more at home ever since the...oh there's no need to go into detail about why he did it, he paints during his free time along with a bunch of other stuff. The only thing he is not that fond of is technology for some reason."

"Oh yeah, I noticed that he was struggling with his camera and laptop when he was taking my ID photo." I recalled

"Yeah, he has been good at so many things but for some reason he just doesn't seem to adapt well to technology, but anyway let's head to your station and introduce you to the team." She said.

She then lead me a few steps to a small empty room which just contains a desk, a computer, a small black cabinet and a half full bookshelf that has a few books and scientific journals on topics in biochemistry, genetics and evolutionary science. Ma Tembo then tapped my shoulder while presenting a ring with four keys. One key is a larger brass key while the other three are smaller steel keys.

"So this will be the office that you can do any of your non-lab work in, such as publication of research, typing reports or even consulting with either other scientists or museum researchers. The larger key of this ring is the key to this office, while the other keys are for your office cabinet, lab equipment cabinets and chemical storeroom access." Ma Tembo said while going through the keys before giving them to me.

"Okay, thank you, is it okay if I just put some of my stuff away before we head to the lab?" I asked

"Sure, knock yourself out." She gently replied.

I then place my bag that contains both my personal items and lunch underneath my new desk and then proceeded to follow Ma Tembo out of the office.

Ma Tembo led me down the hallway, to the lab in which some people were either preparing their stations or were just getting here. I also saw a few people in lab coats who looked as if they were still in high school or college, I'm assuming that those are interns for the summer. I began to look at some of the other people that were present in the lab. For example, I noticed one guy who was around his forties or early fifties with dark brown-almost black hair with white framed glasses, while there was also a woman who looked about my age and she had brown hair that reached to the bottom of her cheeks, blue framed glasses, and she seemed to be focused on organizing her desk in an eager manner. Another was a woman with dark brown hair and has her hair in a braided ponytail.

Ma Tembo then led me to a station that has a computer, a box of micropipette tips of varying sizes, some micropipettes on a standee, a cabinet with some additional glassware and a cleared table to the right of the station for which I assume is for any lab work I might want to do near my desk. In the chair in front of it, there was a lab coat on it and checked it to see if there was a name on it. The lab coat was blank so I put it on and it was a little big, but it will do for now.

"Okay Edwin, here is your station for when you do the laboratory portion of any research endeavors with a glassware cabinet to your left and as I told you in orientation, the chemical store room is through that door in the far right." She said while pointing towards the door.

She then face the group of younger people and raised her voice.

"Excuse me but any interns or summer help, please report to the back lab to discuss today's agenda; I'll join you in five minutes."

With that the group of interns emptied into the back section of the lab, which was actually in the room next door to the main lab. After all the interns cleared out, it was just Ma Tembo, four other people and myself were left in the main Tembo then approached me and then faced the group.

"As for the rest of you, I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our team. This is Dr. Edwin Mariani, he previously done research for Genico Pharmaceuticals and Graduate Research at the University of Chicago. He has a strong background in researching environmental impacts on genome, which is why I think that he is a perfect fit for our research into the evolutionary genetics of lichen native to northern Illinois over the past five decades."

I then started to feel nervous, wanting to make a good first impression, so I just said.

"Hello, it's a pleasure to start working with you, I hope that we will get along well and I can't wait to work on further scientific endeavors." After that there was just a course of smiles and nodding. Ma Tembo then walked me towards the guy with the dark hair and white-framed glasses.

"So Edwin, this is Dr. Bupu Palahala, or research associate, you actually spoke to him on the phone a while ago. He conducted your phone interview a while back." She said.

"Oh yeah, now I remember, it a pleasure to finally meet you in person and I'm looking forward to working with you." I said.

"Likewise, though initially, I was not expecting someone with long-hair," Bupu said, Ma Tembo started to glare at Bupu, as if she was worried he offended me in some way.

"Yeah I get that a lot, you won't believe how many times I get confused for a yoga instructor." I lightly joked and there was some light laughter in the room.

Ma Tembo then gestured towards the woman with the braided ponytail, "This is Dr. Vuruga Nyati, one of our senior researchers."

"Nice to meet you Vuruga" I said.

"You too," She replied in an easygoing tone. Then Ma Tembo gestured towards a guy with short, black curly hair and a goatee.

"This is Dr. Peter Jones, he is a researcher that is working on a separate project that is in collaboration with the Field Museum and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology in Berkeley."

I reached my handout and shook his hand as I did for Bupu and Vuruga.

"Hello Peter, I hope you have adapted well to Chicago weather during your stay," I said

"Oh it was tough at first but I got used to it, after like six or seven months," He replied.

"You should have heard him when he first got ...Oww!" Bupu said before Vuruga punched him in the arm.

Ma Tembo then directed me towards the younger woman with the blue framed glasses.

"Now Edwin I would like to introduce you to.." But before Ma Tembo could finish, the other woman interrupted, eagerly shook my hand and began to talk.

"Hi Edwin, I'm Makini! Well, my full name is Dr. Makini Mwanafunzi, but I'm not that into those stuffy titles. Anyway, I can't wait to work with you, well.. along with our other colleagues to be specific. Oh and I love your hair, if it wasn't in a bun, then you might look like a lion. Who knows we might even become best friends and hangout after work or something.." Makini said in a fast and speedy manner.

After she finished, I was still trying to catch up on what she said while gently shaking her hand.

"I'm looking forward to working with you too." I said in a slower pace, still in recovery from the speed conversation that just happened 30 seconds ago. Ma Tembo then began to walk away from the group.

"Well, I hope you get along well, I have to give the interns their agendas now." Ma Tembo said while walking towards the back lab. I then turned to the rest of the group.

"So, I heard that you guys plan to research the environmental impacts on lichen genomes, have you guys collected any samples or have any control samples yet?" I asked.

"Well yes, the museum actually has archived samples of approximately six different genuses of lichen from each decade beginning from the 1960's and we have recently collected new samples of those lichen, with six species of each genus, over the past week or two" Bupu replied.

"Okay, do you want to conduct a gel electrophoresis, or are you guys on the sequencing phase right now?" I asked.

"Oh we just collected the samples last week, and we plan to separate the DNA of specific proteins through gel electrophoresis, and this week we are focusing on the punctelia genus of lichen." Vuruga added.

"Okay, I have experience in gel electrophoresis so I would be happy to help you guys with it, including making the agarose gel." I replied.

"Okay, let's get started then, better now than never at all." Makini added.

With that, I put on some gloves and I gathered the materials for the gels. So far nothing seemed to go wrong, a few minutes later, a few of the interns came over to help us with our preparations, while Ma Tembo and the rest of the interns went to work on a separate research inquiry that she has been working on.

After about three or four hours, I finished preparing the agar gel casting trays and placed them in a lab fridge for an hour or two, so that they can solidify.

I just put away the hot plate I was using to make the agarose gel, and before I got back to my station, Makini suddenly approached me.

"Hi Edwin, I'm just wondering, after the work we did on the agar gels, Bupu, Vuruga and I are heading to the lower floor dining hall for lunch, and since it's your first day I was wondering if you want to join us?"

I was a little surprised that someone offered me to join them for lunch. This practically never happened to me, not since I dated my ex-girlfriend in college. I thought that it wouldn't hurt to get to know my colleagues better.

"Sure, I actually brought a lunch from home, so I'll be with you guys in two minutes." I replied

"No problem, just meet us by the door to the hallway." Makini replied while heading towards the door.

I began to organize my station so that everything is put away in a safe manner and took one of my notebooks with me. I went in the hallway that lead to my office, and once I arrived at my office; I placed the lab notebook in the black cabinet, closed the drawer, went to my bag under the desk and grabbed the paper bag that contains my lunch and I left to meet the group by the exit.


	7. Chapter 7: The First Day (Part 2)

With my lunch in my hand, I walked down the hallway and I went out to the area just outside the lab to see Makini, Bupu and Vuruga were waiting for me. Makini turned to the security guard who was working next to the door to the department. This guard had the same framed glasses as Bupu and his eyes were glued to a tablet screen.

"Hey Ono, want to join us for lunch?" Makini asked.

"Oh I'm sorry, I wish I could, but I have to check perimeters." the guard said, without even taking his eyes off the screen.

"Okay then, see ya!" Makini replied.

We begin to approach the marble staircase and we approach the white tarp next to the Marshall Field statue.

"Hey guys, do you know what is under this tarp?" I asked the group.

"Oh it's some new project that the museum president requested, I suppose its to help bring more tourists to the museum. We don't know what exactly it is but the president hinted that it will be a surprise for all of us" Vuruga said.

After walking down the stairs, we walked passed the entrances to the "What is an Animal?" and African culture exhibit until we reached the staircase to the lower floor. After walking past the lower floor entrance to the "Inside Ancient Egypt" exhibit, we finally reached the museum's cafe/cafeteria area. We just grabbed a table nearby, the other three people started to take off their bags and hand them to me.

"Excuse me Edwin, I hope you don't mind but can you watch our bags for us while we get our lunch?" Bupu asks while he and the rest started handing their bags in my direction.

"Sure," I said out of the moment while the bags are now piled under my side of the table.

They eventually left to get their lunches, I looked around the cafe to see that there are more people than I expected for a Monday. Even when there was a fair share of visitors in the cafe, I also saw many people with employee tags there too. Possibly other researchers, administration and some people who were in tour guide and information desk uniforms. While looking around the cafe, I heard a chair pull out in the table next to me, where I eventually heard

"Hey Edwin!" This made me turn my head towards the table next to me and Beshte was next to me. I guess this is his lunch break too.

"Oh Hey Beshte, how's it going?" I asked. Beshte then started to take his chair and brought it the other end of my table.

"Not bad, although I'm a little exhausted; nine kids got lost in the museum today and I overheard nine rants from their parents because the kids got lost, and I was thinking 'Why are you acting so righteous, your kids got lost because you weren't watching them.'" Beshte said with a hint of frustration in his voice. I laughed a little at the last part.

"I feel you, some parents can be that way. It's similar to how my parents were when I was a kid, they couldn't seem to admit they were wrong sometimes, even with stupid little things." I added.

"Oh yeah, I've met many people who were like that, but hey that's just part of life. But enough about me,how's your first day going? Beshte said.

"It's been alright, so far I've just been completing preparations for an eventual DNA comparison, but other than that, nothing really eventful." I replied.

"Well that's good. Why are all those bags under your table?" Beshte said looking intrigued.

I looked under the table to see what he was talking about.

"Oh, these actually belong to my colleagues; they're just getting lunch right now. I guess this is just hazing the new guy and holding the other's bags is part of it." I said, which made Beshte laugh a little bit.

"Oh that's nothing, when I was in basic training, they made me clean the toilets using only a toothbrush." He replied

"Yikes!" I replied. "I never knew you were in the military, how long have you served?"

"I served for about two years before I was discharged due to injury and I eventually went back to school." Beshte replied.

"Okay that's cool. What was active duty like?" I asked.

"At first I thought it would be like my days fighting in the Lio- actually I would rather not talk about it." Beshte said abruptly.

"Okay I understand. So do you-" I began to say before being interrupted.

"Thanks for watching our bags Edwin!" Makini interrupted, while she, Bupu and Vuruga grabbed their bags after placing their lunches on the table.

"No problem! Oh I hope you don't mind if someone joins us." I added.

"Hey guys!" Beshte interjected.

"Oh hello Beshte, pleasant to see you." Bupu replied.

"Likewise." Beshte replied

"Wait, you guys know each other?" I asked.

"Oh yes, we've known each other for years. In fact we have known almost three quarters of the employees hear for years." Makini added.

"Really? Have you guys worked here for a long time?" I asked.

"Well we haven't worked here that long, we came here from the same..community, you can say." Vuruga pointed out.

"Okay, where did you guys come from?" I asked.

"Okay, we were born far far away from here and there was a period of time where we were separated, but then we found each other again like ten or eleven years ago." Bupu said.

"Okaay? And where exactly is far far aw-" I began to ask before I was interrupted.

"Oh enough about us, tell us a little more about yourself!" Beshte interrupted. I was a little suspicious, but I guess I can understand that they might have not had the best past and are uncomfortable speaking about it.

"Okay? I was born and raised here in Chicago, I live in the Logan Square neighborhood now but I grew up in the Rogers Park neighborhood. I went to DePauw for my undergrad, UChicago for grad school and I previously did research for a pharmaceutical company." I answered.

"Okay that's neat, what do you do during your free time?" Beshte asked.

"Well on warm days I like to jog and...Oh I also play the bass-not the guitar, I mean the upright bass with the bow that you would see in an orchestra. Also I like to read science journals and the occasional novel in French." I answered.

"Oh that's cool, so are you like fluent in French?" Makini asked.

"Oh yes, I've been learning French since middle school and I also want to learn Italian but I never seem to have the time." I replied.

"I know what you mean, I've bought the Babbel app to learn Spanish six months ago and I still haven't even opened it." Vuruga added.

"So where did you guys go to school or what do you during your free time?" I asked.

"Okay, after I was discharged I attended Kennedy-King College and I like to go to the gym and lift during my free time." Beshte replied.

"Oh and I also went to Kennedy-King for my first two years, then I transferred to Chicago State University. After I graduated, I went to UIC for grad school. During my free time I like to paint, read and I take self-defense classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays after work." Makini replied.

"Oh that's cool, do you learn a specific martial art in these classes or is it like a mix martial art kind of thing?" I asked.

"Oh it's nothing really sophisticated, they're just some free classes at a community center near my place." Makini replied.

"Okay, what about you Vuruga?" I asked.

"Okay, I went to Malcolm X College for the first two years and UMichigan Flint for the last two years, and Northwestern for my PhD. Outside of work, sometimes I do pottery and I actually tutor students in math and science on the side, so I have not really had any free time recently." Vuruga replied.

"Oh and I went to Wilbur Wright College for my first two years and transferred to the University of Florida. I then went to UIUC for my PhD program. During my free time I prefer to spend my time playing backgammon, crossword puzzles and even ride my bicycle around the city sometimes." Bupu added.

"Okay, that's cool, I had a good friend that went to UIUC, they're now an advertising official for Whole Foods." I said

I then turned my attention to the other people with employee tags around the cafe, when another question popped into my mind.

"So along with each other, is there any other employees in this cafe that you guys know?" I asked.

"Oh yeah definitely!" Beshte replied. He then pointed to these two women chatting with each other in information desk uniforms. One of the women was tall with long brown hair and green eyes. The other woman had black hair with either bleached blond or white highlights with blue eyes.

"We know Twiga and Muhimu from the information desk." Beshte then gestured towards a man who had light, straight brown hair, and he was wearing a navy blue jacket with a name tag, white shirt and a brown tie that just had polka dots in all colors. He was just sitting there, appearing to try to make a game of Jenga out of his french fries.

"Also Timon, from the Crowne Family PlayLab." Beshte then gestured his hand towards a woman who had a name tag, dirty blonde hair, green eyes and her eyes were glued to and phone screen. "That's Tiffu, from the gift shop."

The table next to Tiffu seated a woman with a tour guide's uniform, bangs, light brown wavy hair and sky blue eyes. She looked bored as hell and she just seemed to touch her phone screen as if she was just playing Candy Crush. Beshte gestured his hand towards this woman. "That's Vitani, one of our tour guides." I was a little surprised when he said that.

"I never would have guessed that." I replied.

"Oh she's actually fine at work, but outside of work she could be a little blunt. Sometimes it can hurt but she's still an okay person to be around." Beshte said. After saying that, he then gestured to some guy with short black hair and brown eyes.

"That's Dr. Makuu Mamba from the fossil lab ..." Beshte then leaned into my ear for a whisper. "But I have to warn you that he has a bit of a temper. He can be a nice guy when you get to know him but it takes time to shave off his layers." I then leaned towards his ear.

"I wonder what he's like with hs interns." I inquired. Bupu then started to join us.

"Oh, he's usually fine with interns, though I have heard a few stories of him making some interns cry for-" Bupu whispered before a voice interrupted us.

"Excuse me, but can you please tell me why you guys are looking at me and whispering like that to that guy with the man bun ?!" an irritated voice called. I guess that Makuu guy noticed us.

"Oh sorry Makuu, we weren't saying anything bad," Bupu said in slight hesitancy. He then gestures his hand towards me. "This is Edwin, he's a new researcher to our genetics lab and Beshte was just telling him about the people we know in other departments" I then just waved my hand to try to avoid bad terms with this guy.

"Hi Dr. Mamba, nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Mariani but Edwin would be just-fi-" I said.

"Yeah, yeah no need for repeated introductions man-bun. I'll tell you that I'm a reasonable person to be around, just don't get in my way or anything and I'll stay out of yours. Understood?" Makuu interrupted.

"Okay, I get it. No problem." I said in an understanding tone. Since I was young, I was given similar lectures of how not to get to deep into someone else's business, even when my curiosity gets the best of me.

"Thank you, and now you excuse me but I prefer to have my lunch in peace." Makuu said in a slightly more elated tone. I then turned back to eat my lunch again, feeling a little suspicious and even a little hurt after that conversation. Makini then placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Don't take it personally, Edwin. He's just gone through some stuff and that can make him weary of people sometimes." She said.

"Okay, thanks Makini." I said while forming a little bit of a smile. "Hey guys, I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to get a water from the vending machine over there. Can you watch my lunch for me?" I asked.

"Sure, no problem." Makini replied. I eventually got up and walked towards the vending machine.

Third Person P.O.V.:

Beshte, Bupu, Makini and Vuruga waited for Edwin to walk out of their line of hearing. As soon as that happened, they begin to scoot closer to each other.

"So what do you think, we should tell Edwin about _you know what_?" Beshte asked.

"I think we should tell him just to get it over with." Makini said.

"And have him look at us and perceive us as suspicious after only one day of working with us? Are you out of your mind?" Bupu interjected.

"I'm sure he'll understand what we went through, we have all suffered in some way from 'the experience'." Beshte added.

"Exactly Beshte! That's what I was thinking an-" Makini said before interrupting.

"But on the other hand, it might be a little bit much to reveal it on the guy's first day." Beshte interrupted.

"Thank you! Finally someone sees things my way!" Bupu adds.

"Are you kidding me? This is no time to be so fucking stubborn Bupu, this is serious." Makini replies

"Since when have I been stubborn?" Bupu asks.

"For starters during that one time in which you-" Makini was about to call something before Vuruga interrupted.

"Hey guys, this is no time to start arguing, do you want to cause a scene? Okay, whether we tell him now or wait until he finds out for himself, he's going to find out eventually either way. But I think that we should wait for the right moment before we tell him about us and our 'experiences'." Vuruga said. Makini was going to say something else but then she hesitated.

"Okay fine...we won't tell him until we can all agree on the time." Makini succumbed to peer pressure.

Edwin P.O.V.:

I walked to the hallway and I approached the vending machines which are located near the cafeteria seats that are usually reserved for school field trip groups. I paid the dollar twenty five in quarters for a bottle of water. I then dialed the code for the bottle of water.

After the water popped out of the machine, I bent down to grab it and before I can start walking in the direction towards my table. I accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oh I am sorry about that mis-" I began to say as I turned around and there _she_ is in front of me…...the woman with the indigo streaks.

I couldn't help but continue to look at her. She has her hair in a ponytail with the indigo streaks complimenting her black hair. She was wearing black pants, a blue short-sleeve blouse. The most alluring detail about her was her blue eyes, they were a dark, deep shade of blue, almost a purple color.

"Oh no problem, sometimes things like this happen...is something wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked in a suspicious tone. Upon seeing that she was a little creeped out, I tried to change to a more calming demeanor.

"Oh….No there's nothing wrong, it's just that you seem so familiar. I think that I saw you in the hallway a week ago." I replied.

"A week ago in the hall- Oh yeah! Were you wearing a button-down shirt and jacket?" She asked.

"Yeah! That was me!" I replied. I was shocked that she remembered me.

"Also, I think I saw you on the Red Line on the way to work today." She said. I didn't think that she would have noticed me; I didn't even see her look at me during that time. Perhaps she noticed me at one of the times I was on my phone.

"Yeah! That was also me!...Oh and I'm Dr. Mariani, but you can just call me Edwin. I'm a new researcher for the genetics lab and this is my first day." I said

"Okay, nice to meet you Edwin. I'm Dr. Fisi, but my name is Jasiri. I work over at the fossil preparation lab." Jasiri said. From there she then began to dial a code on the machine for a beverage and after she grabbed the beverage and we began to walk back towards the direction of the cafe.

"Oh that's interesting, is there any type of fossils that you prefer to examine?" I asked.

"Well I specifically like to checkout plant fossils and sometimes the occasional mollusk fossil from the Ordivician period. Dinosaur fossils are just so cliche." Jasiri replied.

"That's cool, it seems interesting to see how intricate some plant fossils are." I said.

"Exactly and I like to look at Cambrian, Ordivician and even the Carboniferous period fossil since they are not exactly as well known compared to the big three periods: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous...Anyway, so you work in the genetics lab, what got you interested in genetics?" Jasiri said.

"Well, I've always been interested in science as a kid, but I became extremely interested in biochemistry and genetics when I took AP Bio in high school, and that extended through both undergrad and graduate research experiences. I guess I became interested in the field because I've been interested to see how even a small molecular change can have a major impact on an organism whether it is caused by deviations in diet to the change of an entire ecosystem." I replied.

"That sounds pretty cool. I'm sorry, I have to meet with a colleague but it was nice talking to you." Jasiri said.

"Okay cool. It's been nice talking to you too." I said. As we walked, Jasiri sat in the table with Makuu, getting a little curious. But then I realized that Beshte told me that Makuu also worked in the fossil lab, so he was probably that colleague Jasiri mentioned.

I eventually returned to the table with my colleagues and when I sat down, I resumed to finish my lunch when I heard

"That took longer than expected for a bottle of water, was this vending machine upstairs?" Makini asked.

"Oh no, while I was getting my water when I ended up meeting Dr. Fisi from the fossil lab." I replied.

"Oh okay, that's cool. We've known Jasiri for years, she's really dedicated to her work." Beshte added.

"Oh yeah, it seems that way from when I talked to her." I said.

"Yes, especially when she's not holding back Makuu from tearing an intern to pieces." Bupu added with a slight snicker.

"Bupu, that was only one time." Vuruga hesitantly said.

When then finished our lunches, headed back to the lab and prepared to conduct the gel electrophoresis of our first lichen genus. The rest of our day was just diluting lichen proteins in loading buffer and our gels in a tray filled with a different buffer, micropipette the lichen solution into the appropriate holes in the gel and apply the current to see how far towards the cathode the genetic material of each species will travel across the gel. In some occasions, we let the interns help us out.

After we took photos of our electrophoresis results for that species, we called it a day at five. Before I went into my office, I took off my lab coat and laid it among the hooks. Sure, my lab coat might not have a name yet but it's only my first day so what was I to expect.

I went into my office to grab my things when I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in!" I interjected. The door opens and then Ma Tembo walks in with a bag on her side.

"Hi Edwin, I'm just checking on you to see how your first day went." She said.

"Oh thanks Ma Tembo, my first day was great, I feel much more at home here than I ever did with Genico. You guys really made me feel welcome here." I replied. Ma Tembo seemed to form a gentle smile on her face.

"Thank you, it's good to hear that. You've been a great help with the start of our lichen-environment genetic correlation study. I hope we get to know each other more in and outside of work. See you tomorrow Edwin." Ma Tembo said.

"You too!" I said. Ma Tembo soon walked out and headed towards her office.

I then began to gather the rest of my things and I eventually started to head out. After leaving the museum, I felt so relaxed knowing that I have a job that I can be satisfied with, one I can truly be myself in.

I began to look at the park scenery around me to help ease my mind off the possible anxieties of tomorrow. As soon as I reached the Red Line stop, I swiped my ventra card in the machine and the revolving rods unlocked after the swipe.

After going down to the waiting area near the tracks. I began to look around the area, kinda hoping that I get to bump in to Jasiri again, but I did not see her there. The train then arrives, I took my seat.

As the train begins to move, I began thinking to myself that even when the job is great so far; I began to grow curious of some of the things I've noticed. Why do many of my colleagues refuse to talk about their past? Why did they constantly interrupt themselves and each other when one begins to mention where they came from or what they did in the past?

I guess that life is just going to give you mysteries like that. Perhaps I'll know one day, but for now I'm just going to enjoy my life at the present, which might lead into a rewarding future.


	8. A Day In the Lives of Museum Employees

Third Person P.O.V:

It was Edwin's second day at working in the museum and he walks in through the front glassdoors and gets in line to check in with security. The museum is mostly empty since it is only 7:30 in the morning.

Edwin goes up to the security desk and this time a security guard with dark blonde hair, green eyes and a birthmark on their right cheek.

"Hello, how are you doing?" Edwin asks the security guard while giving her his temporary ID.

"I'm fine, I'm just a little tired...Edwin." She replied while looking at the ID.

"I can understand, we all can have those days." Edwin said in a calm tone.

"So Beshte has told me that you work in the genetics lab, how's that going for you?" She asked.

"Oh it's great, so far we are analyzing the genomes of different genomes of lichens to determine how exactly environmental correlates with the mutations of the lichen genomes." Edwin said.

"That's interesting, wish you luck with that." She said.

"You too uh...Fuli" Edwin said while reading her name tag. As her was walking past the security desk, he accidentally bumped into another security guard that was walking in the opposite direction. This guard was male and had long red hair, a light beard and hazel eyes.

"Watch it ponytail! You could have scratched my shoes." The guard says in frustration.

"Oh I'm sorry sir, I guess I was a little distra.." Edwin said before he was interrupted.

"Just stay out of my way and watch where you're going next time." The guard firmly say before letting out a grunt of frustration.

The guard then walks behind one of the desks and sits down. While Fuli turned her head to the other guard.

"Uh Kion...you bumped into him." She said.

"What? No I didn't! He was clearly in my path." Kion defended. Then another guard enters, and this guard was relatively shorter than Kion and Fuli. They had blue eyes, some freckles on the cheeks and black hair with a white streak in one of his bangs.

"Actually, Kion you did bump into him, you accidentally walked into his path while you were on your phone." The other guard said.

"Since when did you become so attentive Bunga? Whatever, just focus on work for now." Kion said with irritation.

"Okay fine geez!?" Bunga said. He then turned his head to Fuli who was at the desk next to him.

"Man, the old Kion was much less temperamental." Bunga whispered.

"I know, but we could discuss this later we don't want him to hear-" Fuli whispered.

"What are you too whispering about?!" Kion interrupted

"Oh nothing, Bunga was just curious about the lunch breaks, and I was just telling him that the schedule is on the PDF Ono sent us." Fuli replied.

"Do you think about anything else other than food Bunga?" Kion said with an irritated expression on his face.

Around half an hour has passed and now Kion was scanning Rafiki's ID, and after he was finished, Rafiki started to walk in the direction of the human resources offices. But before he goes to the offices, Rafiki decides to talk to the two women at the information desk.

The women were filling some paperwork and organizing pamphlets when Rafiki approached their desk. He knocked on it to get their attention.

"Hello Muhimu, Twiga, how have your mornings been?" Rafiki asked

"Oh hi Rafki, our morning has been fine but it has also been quite boring. We've just been organizing these pamphlets since we got here." Muhimu, the black haired woman, replied.

"Yeah, sometimes we came to the point of trying to purposely disagree on how these pamphlets should be organized." Twiga, the brown haired woman, added.

"I understand, mornings can be quite lonely. Sometimes I sit by Zazu's desk in reception just to have someone to talk to. So how have you kids been doing?" Rafiki said.

"I wish I knew, since Hamu moved to New York for grad school, he doesn't respond to my texts anymore. I heard studying to become a psychiatrist is time consuming but I didn't think it was that time consuming." Muhimu added.

"I have that same problem with Juhudi, she really seems to be enjoying Los Angeles. Sure I can understand the weather, but I wish she could just call me after her days at the conservatory." Twiga added.

"Ah, I guess everyone needs some time to find themselves." Rafiki replied.

"I guess, but they couldn't leave at least one message once in a while." Twiga said.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what millennials are into these days. Well I have to go to my office. See ya!" Rafiki said while resuming his walk to the office.

"See ya!" Both ladies said. The soon went to check their emails and files on their computers.

"I honestly don't know how other people deal with the whole empty nest thing. It seems that ever since Hamu moved out, my life has basically been reduced to pamphlets, emails and deskwork. I'm starting to get tired of this while just going home to watch TV until I sleep." Muhimu said.

"Well then go out or get a hobby?" Twiga replied while typing an email.

"I am trying to read more and I just ordered a stain glass window painting kit." Muhimu replied.

"Sure, that's a start, but you should also try to find hobbies that involve socializing others." Twiga said.

Twiga then resumed to pull her phone out of her pocket and pressed on with a white flame design on a redish-pink background.

"Also if you want to checkout the dating scene, I overheard some of the tour guides talking about this Tinder app. I just got it yesterday so how it works is that shows you photos of people you might be interested in. If someone interests you, then you swipe right, but if not, you swipe left." Twiga explained.

"Uhh...I don't know about this Twiga." Muhimu said hesitantly.

"Oh common Muhimu, it could be fun, it's not just for younger people; there are people in our age group in this app too." Twinga replied.

"Okay, I guess, I can just take a look at it." Muhimu said. After that the two women resumed with their average work day.

An hour passes by, and the museum is starting to crowd with more tourists and visitors. While a line of six or seven people is at the information desks, a woman with short light brown hair and bangs, and sky blue eyes started to walk towards a group of people in her blue tour guide jacket.

"Hello there group A, my name is Vitani, I'll be your tour guide for today. I hope that you guys are enjoying your stay in Chicago." The guide said. She began to gesture her hand towards the titanosaurus skeleton behind her.

"This specimen here is Maximo, he's a titanosaurus, or in scientific terms a patagotitan mayorum, and it lived during the Cretaceous period nearly 100 million years ago. We have had this specimen since last year and it has been described and one of the largest dinosaur specimens that has ever been found and collected by any museum." Vitani said as the group of tourists begins to take pictures of the skeleton.

"Okay, does anyone have any questions before we move onto our next stop?" Vitani asked the group. One person, a brown-haired teenage girl wearing a green short-sleeve shirt and blue jeans raised their hand. "Yes?" Vitani said gesturing to the girl

"What happened to Sue, the T-Rex skeleton that used to be here?" The girl asked.

"Oh, due to Maximo's size, we just had to move her to the upper level in our Evolving Planet Exhibit if you still want to see her. Anymore questions?" Vitani answered.

A young boy with blonde hair and a red shirt with jeans raised his hand. "Yes?" Vitani replied.

"I'm just curious, is Maximo just as old as you or is he a few years younger?" the boy asked while laughing afterwards. This left Vitani with an angered expression on her face.

"Hey! listen here you little piece of.." Vitani angrily said before realizing that she can't say what she wanted to say in the middle of work, especially towards a child. She then took a deep breath.

"Actually, all of us including myself are millions if not hundreds of millions of years younger than Maximo and I would recommend keeping the punch lines at home young man." Vitani said in a stern and authoritative voice towards the kid.

"Okay, let's move on to the Nature Walk and Messages from the Wilderness Exhibit." Vitani said, while leading her group across the hall.

After about an hour, Vitani and her tour group headed to the upper level exhibits. While that is happening, the main floor gift shop is thriving with activity. After giving receipt to a customer, the cashier with dirty blond hair and green eyes decided to stock some of the shelves.

"Hey Emma, can you take over for register for me, I'm going to stock some of the shelves." The woman asked. Emma soon walked right towards the register.

"No problem Tiffu, I think a box figurines and photobooks are in the back so check there," Emma replied.

"Thanks." Tiffu said in response with a gentle smile.

Tiffu then walked towards the backroom where she saw two boxes and grabbed the one to the left. She then took out a set of keys and used one of them to cut through the tape on the box. She opens the box to see that it was filled with small figurines which depicted images of Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses. Of course there are the classic ones like Anubis, Bastet and Ra, but there were also new figurines of gods such as Isis and Thoth.

She then took the figurines out of the box and began to place them on the shelves. While stacking the shelves, she began to hear two sets of footsteps running near her.

"Hey I saw that toy first!" A young voice yelled.

"You gotta catch me first!" Another young voice yelled.

Tiffu then stopped what she was doing and turned around to see two kids, a blonde haired boy and girl fighting over a plush dinosaur toy. Tiffu then placed the box of figurines down on the shelf and took a few steps towards the kids.

"Excuse me kids! There is no running in the store." Tiffu said with a raised voice. But the kids were out of her line of hearing, leaving Emma to take care of the situation.

Tiffu resumed to stack the figurines until she was finished with the whole box. Once she was finished, she went to the backroom again, placed the empty box in the recycling pile and used her key to open the next box. In that box were photo books that were entitled "Wildlife Photographer of the Year" and on the cover was a picture of a lioness drinking water. Tiffu could not help but look at the cover of this photo book, looking at it as if there was something familiar about it. As she brought the box out, she heard something shatter. She placed the box down and saw the two kids again still fighting over the toy but they accidentally broke a vase in the process. Fuming, Tiffu marched over to the kids while passing by Emma.

"Emma! Call someone to clean up the broken glass!" Tiffu yelled while stopping in front of the kids while their mother is on the phone.

"I told you kids that you weren't supposed to be running around the store and now you broke a vase in the process! I'm afraid that your mother is going to have to pay for the damages!" Tiffu yelled and then towards the kids' mother.

"Excuse me, Miss?" Tiffu asked. But the mother just put her hand towards Tiffu's face almost in a shushing manner.

"Can't you see that I'm in the middle of a phone call?! Hello, yes I'm back, can you believe that bitch Becky wore the same dress as me at the Smiths' dinner part-" the mother was about to say until Tiffu took the phone from her mother and hung it up for her.

"Hey?! I was in the middle of something!" The mother complained.

"Well you should be keeping an eye on your kids miss! Because you weren't watching your kids, they broke a five hundred dollar vase and I'm afraid that you have to pay for the damages." Tiffu practically yelled.

"Wait what? But I didn't break the vase?!" The mother said.

"Yeah but unless your kids have bank accounts, I'm afraid that you have to pay for the vase." Tiffu replied.

"Ugh! Fine, just put it on the Amex!" The mother grunted while giving Tiffu her credit card.

After swiping the credit card, the mother grabbed her kids and left the store in a frustrated manner. Tiffu then turns her head towards Emma

"Some parents, am I right?" Tiffu said. Emma just nodded her head in agreement.

In the lower level, the mother and her kids were leaving the museum, with the mother practically dragging the kids with both her hands.

"You listen here! Do you know how much money you just cost me? You just cost me that new purse I had my eyes on for months! Wait until your father hears about this! You two are grounded for a month, No tablets! No television!" The mother said while continuing to rant.

In the doorway to the Crowne play lab, a brown-haired man was looking at them. This man had a navy blue jacket, black pants and a name tag with a purple and yellow striped tie.

"Damn she has a temper." The man watches in disbelief. After watching this he just continues to walk around the PlayLab monitoring the exhibits just to really see kids playing with the exhibit material along with their parents nearby. Another museum employee approached him.

"Hey Timon, if you want, you can go on your lunch break, I just finished mine." The employee said.

"Okay, thanks for letting me know." Timon replied. Soon after that he exited the exhibit and walked a bee-line to the cafe. He then orders his food at the counter, which mainly consists of a pasta dish and a salad with a couple of croutons in it.

After receiving his meal, he then sat at a table in the middle of the cafe, he then heard footsteps approaching him and he saw that Bunga from security was sitting at his table.

"Hey Uncle Timon! How's it going?" Bunga asked.

"I'm fine, it's been quite a boring day today, while one kid did throw up in the hallway, but other than that many of the older kids that came seem more focused on their tablets than anything in the exhibit. Anything good for you?" Timon replied

"Ugh! Nothing! All I did all day was checking IDs and being lectured by Kion for cracking a few jokes on the job. Man I miss the old Kion." Bunga replied looking a little bored and depressed.

"Yeah, I have not really had excitement in a while." Timon agreed.

"Oh, I have an idea!" Bunga said while grabbing his bag and takes out a small slingshot.

"Where'd you get that?" Timon asked.

"Amazon, you can get practically anything on Amazon. Timon hand me your croutons!" Bunga replied. Timon gives Bunga a few of his croutons.

"Now come with me to behind the plant!" Bunga said before they hid themselves behind the plant. Bunga then loads the slingshot with a crouton.

"Where are you aiming Bunga?" Timon whispered.

"You should be asking, 'who am I aiming at?' and the answer is hopefully that guy from the genetics lab over there with the ponytail. I wonder how he will react." Bunga whispered in a devious tone.

Bunga then stretched the slingshot back and once he released, the crouton flew across the cafe and hit Edwin in the back of the head, making him briefly jolt.

"Ugh! What the fuck was that?!" Edwin screamed responding to the hit. While the other people from his lab where confused on what's going on. Bunga and Timon just hid behind the large plant pot.

"What's wrong Edwin?" Makini asked.

"Something just hit me in the back of the head…" Edwin said while beginning to scour the floor to find out what hit him, until he found a crouton on the floor.

"What is this a crouton?! Did I just get in the head by a fucking crouton?!" Edwin said before he looked behind him and nobody was in sight that was throwing croutons.

"Perhaps it was just some dumb kids pulling off a joke." Bupu said.

"Maybe you're right Bupu. Perhaps they didn't show themselves because they didn't have the guts to." Edwin replied and just forgot about it.

In the meantime, Bunga and Timon were hiding behind the plant, covering their mouths to try not let anyone hear their laughter.

"Okay, I admit that was pretty funny!" Timon said while muffling his last chuckle.

"I know! That guy was like 'someone hit me with a fucking crouton', what a dweeb!" Bunga replied.

"Let me try! Let me try!" Timon asked Bunga. Bunga then handed Timon the slingshot and Timon loaded the crouton onto the slingshot.

"I'm going to try and get Vuruga's forehead." Timon said while pulling the strap.

"Yeah, give it your best shot, Timon!" Bunga said. But while he said that, he accidentally bumps into Timon's arm, screwing up his aim and making him release the slingshot.

The crouton did hit someone, but it wasn't Vuruga's forehead….it was Makuu's in the table next to hers. Makuu then became enraged and decided to leave his table and give who shot the crouton a piece of his mind.

"Uh Abort! Abort!" Bunga screamed while he and Timon dropped the slingshot and started to run and scream.

Makuu begins to chase them and Jasiri got up from the table to try to hold back Makuu.

"You two assholes! I told you a million times never to bother me during meals and you interpret that as permission to fuck around with me?! I swear that I'm going to rip your heads from each your goddamn bodies!" Makuu yelled.

After Makuu and Jasiri ran out, the scientists from the genetics lab just sat there and watched the scene.

"Woah, when you guys said that Makuu guy had a temper, you were NOT kidding." Edwin said to the others.

"Yeah, and you were right it was two kids who hit you with the crouton…two overgrown kids." Vuruga said. After that, the group just shared a laugh.

Two hours after the incident, Jasiri was working in the fossil lab and she was just brushing off one of her newest specimens. At the same time, Makuu walks back into the lab after his appointment with Human Resources.

"Hi Jasiri, where were the Triassic period specimens that I was working on/" Makuu asked and a lackadaisical tone.

"Right where you left them, how was your appointment with HR?" Jasiri replied.

"It was just like my last meeting with them, I had to talk with Timon and Bunga, we were forced to apologize to each other, they promised not to do it again, and Rafiki gave me some tea but I have no idea what it's supposed to be good for." Makuu replied with a hint of frustration.\

"How many times do I have to tell you to be careful of your temper, this is like your third visit to HR this year because of it. Perhaps this project could help you get your mind off of it." Jasiri said firmly.

"Ehh maybe you're right." Makuu replied unenthusiastically.

The two preparators worked on their respective specimens for three more hours. Until Jasiri started to gather her things and carefully place her specimens in the appropriate storage spaces.

"I'm going to try to catch the Red Line. Want to come?" Jasiri asked.

"No thanks, I think I'm just going to stay here a little longer to catch up on the work I missed due to that HR appointment."

"Okay, see you tomorrow then!" Jasiri said.

"See you later, Jasiri." Makuu said.

Jasiri then proceeded to walk out the lab, took her lab coat off, checked out and exited the lab. She then began to approach the stairs when she saw that Edwin was also approaching the stairs.

"Man we constantly bump into each other don't we?" Jasiri cheerfully said. Edwin then notices Jasiri and gives out a light laugh.

"Yeah, we do. This is like the third time this week." Edwin replies.

Yeah, perhaps we are destined to meet." Jasiri jokingly said. Both just laughed as they went down the stairs.

"So how was work at the genetics lab?" Jasiri asked.

"Well there was nothing new, we just did another set of gel electrophoresis with different genus of lichen. Although as you saw in the cafe, two employees pelted me with a crouton." Edwin replied.

"Oh yeah, they hit Makuu too and her had to go to HR for that outburst." Jasiri replied.

"Oh dear, I hope everything is alright with him." Edwin said with a hint of concern.

"Don't worry, he, Timon and Bunga are fine now and he is even staying a little later today to catch up on the work he missed." Jasiri said.

"I guess I can understand that. Oh and funny thing when I got to work this morning, a security guard freaked out at me for bumping into him." Edwin replies.

"Really? Wait, did this guard have long red hair?" Jasiri asked.

"Yeah, you know him?" Edwin replies.

"Then you must have met Kion, he can be a bit impulsive." Jasiri said.

"Okay, I'll make sure to remember that." Edwin said, as they passed through the glassdoors and began to walk towards the Roosevelt Red Line stop.

"Yeah, but it's actually kind of a shame, he was not always like this. He used to be such a fair, level-headed and caring guy to be around but that all went south after returned from the army." Jasiri said.

"Really? He served in the army? That's funny because I know another security guard who also served in the army. Do you by any chance know Beshte?" Edwin replies.

"Oh yeah I've known Beshte and Kion for years. They've been practically best friends for years, they were in the army together and they were also in the Li- I meant they were in the..line of trouble a lot during their school days." Jasiri said hesitantly.

"Okay? Just out of curiosity, what do you like to do during your free time?" Edwin asked.

"Well I like to jog, I also like to sketch on occasion, I like to go to the gym and workout sometimes, I like to read, I play the occasional game of Dungeons and Dragons, and I also like to go on long walks, even when most of them don't have any particular destination." Jasiri said as they were a block away from the Red Line stop.

"No way! I jog too! Perhaps we should plan a route together one of these days!" Edwin said.

"We definitely should! What about you, what do you like to do outside work?" Jasiri asked.

"Well Along with jogging, I also like to read novels and science journals in both English and French, I occasionally play the double bass, as in an orchestra bass, not a rock bass. I also am a bit of a photographer in some occasions, but it's mostly with my phone really but I take terrible selfies if you ask." Edwin replies. The last part made Jasiri chuckle a little bit.

"That's cool, sometimes I like to read in Swahili and occasionally in Spanish. How long have you learned French?" Jasiri asked.

"Since I was in middle school, I guess you have learned Spanish at school, but I am just curious on where you learned Swahili?" Edwin asks.

"You're correct, I have been learning Spanish since middle school, but I have been speaking Swahilli since I was very young, I was born in the out- outer regions near the capital of Tanzania. I came to the US when I was about nine." Jasiri said and finished when the two sat down in their seats on the train.

"Okay that's cool. Even when we work in different departments of the museum, want to stay in touch?" Edwin asked.

"Sure why not, let me give you my number.." Jasiri said as both of them added each other's numbers on their phones

They talk to each other for five more minutes until they both got off at the Jackson stop. Once there, they said goodbye to each other while each go their separate ways home. Edwin goes through a pathway that connects the stop to the Blue line train while Jasiri just went upstairs to head for a nearby bus stop for her route home.

**Author's Note: **Hello readers, I hope that you have enjoyed the first seven chapters of this fanfic, I decide to write this chapter completely in third person to show the work lives of some of the other employees of the museum. Make sure to stay in tune for later chapters.


	9. Chapter 9: Figurines and Weekend Jogs

Edwin P.O.V.

It has been a week since I have started to work at the museum and it has been more enjoyable than most of my time at Genico. In the Pritzker Lab, I work well with my colleagues, the research is going well and I even made a couple of friends, some that are even from other departments. Three days ago, I finally received my official museum ID, so I don't have to use that paper temporary ID anymore. Sure, my picture could have been better but still, I felt that I was starting to become part of something.

To get started on the next portion of our lichen study, I decided to come to the museum slightly earlier than I usually do. After taking the Blue and Red Lines to the museum, I got in and there was practically no line to the security desk. I saw Beshte was at the desk, but he almost looked as if he was tempted to take a nap.

"Hey Beshte! How's it going?" I said. He seemed to have woken up a little bit after I said that.

"Oh hey Edwin, I'm fine, I'm just a little tired, I literally just got here like five minutes ago. Wait?" He said while checking his phone.

"You're here early, don't you usually come like twenty minutes later than this?" Beshte then asked.

"Well yes, but I want to get some items started for the next phase of out lichen study later on today." I replied. I then proceeded to give Beshte my ID.

"Okay, that's cool and I see that you now have an official ID." Beshte said.

"Yep, just got it Friday." I replied. By the time I finished that sentence, Beshte finished scanning my ID and gave it back to me.

"Well I wish you luck with your ongoing lichen study!" Beshte said.

"Thanks! And I wish you luck with whatever you will do today." I said as I walked my way towards the stairway.

As I got to the top of the stairs, I walked towards the lab entrance and checked my ID with the guard who's at the entrance most of the time, whose name I learned was Ono. I tried to be friendly with him a few times, but his eyes always seem to be glued to his computer screen.

After Ono scanned in my ID, I entered the department, went to my office to put by bag away and get my lab coat on. I then took the stuff that I needed to complete the lab and went to my lab station to get my stuff organized but I got distracted when I was passing some of the other geneticists' lab stations.

When I began to walk past one of the lab stations and I noticed that there is an elephant figurine sitting near the computer. I was a little confused at first but I then remembered the elephant paraphernalia from Ma Tembo's office and I thought that this could just be her station for when she works with us in this lab. But after I passed that lab station, I saw a second figurine in a second lab station but this was a figurine of some kind of antelope or ram with dark brown fur and some white areas on its face. Then as I pass by another station, I see another figurine of a buffalo and then another one of some kind of monkey or ape with a colorful face… I think they're called mandrills, but I could be wrong. I begin to approach the lab supply closet and the funny thing was that other than my desk, the two remaining desks had no figurines. I continued to stare at the desks with the figurines on them, analyzing how much detail was put into making them...but then I heard the sound of the door opening.

I walked into the supply closet to make sure that whoever walked in did not catch me snooping around the lab stations. I just randomly grabbed a jar of buffer and walked towards my station.

"Hi Edwin, you are here quite early, whatcha doing?" a voice called, I turned around to see that Bupu had just arrived at the lab.

"Oh hey Bupu, I just want to get a head start on that protein analysis we're going to start today." I replied, gesturing to the container of buffer I just grabbed.

"Okay, let me help you set up." Bupu said while he heads towards a lab station. I saw that he placed his stuff on the lab station with the antelope figurine.

Shortly after Bupu came to help me set up for today's activities, Ma Tembo came in and place one of her lab notebooks in the station with the elephant figurine. As I continued to set up for protein analysis and crystallography, I observed the rest of my colleagues and the interns enter the lab. With my colleagues I tried to observe which figurine they will sit by. I saw that Makini sat by the mandrill figurine, Vuruga sat by the buffalo figurine, but Peter sat in one of the stations with no figurine on them. I was a little suspicious of why Peter did not have a figurine at his station...Perhaps he was the one that gave them the figurines?

I spent the entire day working on protein analysis and crystallography and the next two days were not much different. On the Thursday of that week, I was working on on the crystallography on a lichen DNA simple and someone tapped my shoulder from behind. I turned around to see Ma Tembo standing there.

"Hi Edwin, how's it going?" She said.

"I'm alright, how about you?" I replied.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking, we have not had enough time to get to know each other personally. Want to get some coffee after you finish your crystallography?" Ma Tembo asked.

"Sure, sounds fun." I replied.

"Great, I'll meet you in five minutes by the lab exit." Ma Tembo said as she continued to assist one of the interns.

After about five minutes, I then told Ma Tembo that I would meet her in just a minute and I left to get the wallet I left in my office.

Third Person P.O.V:

As Edwin left to go to his office, some of the researchers are beginning to approach Ma Tembo's lab station with mildly apprehensive expressions on their faces.

"So I heard you invited Edwin for coffee, that's neat! Are you going to tell him about _you know what?_" Makini asked.

"I wasn't planning on telling him today, but do you think I should?" Ma Tembo asked.

"I don't think so, I still think that it's too early to tell him." Bupu replied.

"She wasn't asking you, Bupu." Makini agitatedly said with a stern expression on her face.

"Yeah but I still don't think she should tell him just yet." Bupu said.

"I agree with Bupu, remember how I reacted when I found out, I think that it would be best if you don't do it in a public place if he is going to have a similar reaction." Peter added.

"Pete does have a point Makini, so Ma Tembo, you probably should not tell him today." Vuruga said.

"Alright fine." Ma Tembo agreed.

Edwin P.O.V.

I walked towards the lab to check on Ma Tembo and I saw that she and the rest of the team were discussing something.

"Hey guys, what are you guys discussing?" I asked.

"Oh...hi Edwin...we were just discussing uhh… our guesses for what that project on the stairwell is going to be..Yeah, Vuruga thinks it's going to be a display case but I think it's going to be some sort of plaque. So should we head out for coffee?" Ma Tembo hesitantly replied.

"Sure no problem, let's go!" I said.

We soon headed out of the lab and headed down the marble staircase and we walked along the path of the main floor to exit the museum. We walked along the outdoor pathway for three minutes until we reached a kiosk near the museum. We just ordered two cups of black coffee and after we grabbed our orders, we just sat by at a nearby table and began to go to drink our coffees.

"This is nice weather isn't it Edwin?" Ma Tembo said in a calming tone.

"It is, it's great weather for jogging! I hope there will continue to be like this weekend, but this is Chicago so that's up in the air right now." I replied. Ma Tembo laughed a bit at the last part.

"I wish so too, I didn't know you jogged?" She replied.

"Yeah sometimes I jog on the weekends, just to let out my stress." I said.

"I feel the same way with my Friday night yoga classes. So during your interview, I think you told me that you have been born and raised here?" Ma Tembo said.

"Yeah, I grew up in the Rogers Park neighborhood but I currently live in Logan Square."

"Ah.. so you have quite a commute from here, but to be fair I also have quite a commute here from my home in Hyde Park." She said.

"You live in Hyde Park? That's cool so are you near UChicago because I was there for grad school?" I asked

"Actually I live only two blocks from the main campus and that is actually one thing we both have in common... I got my PhD at UChicago as well. That's actually where I met Padmini, we were in a few research projects and internships together. I remember we used to complain about the weather here all the time because we both came from areas with warmer climates. I practically went into full panic mode my first winter here after graduating from USC." Ma Tembo said.

"I guess I can understand that, so what do you do during your free time?" I asked.

"Oh other than yoga, I like to read, swim and I even play the trumpet on occasion, even when it practically squeezes all the air out of my lungs." she said. In which we briefly shared a laugh after that.

"I get it, I play the double bass and it can be pretty heavy to maneuver and carry around. It kind of got me some looks on the Red Line during high school." I recalled.

"Well, I think that we should be heading back to the lab. What do you think?" She then said abruptly.

"Sure, that's probably a good idea." I replied. As we were walking back, I heard a text tone from my phone. I took out my phone to see that Jasiri from the fossil lab texted me.

_Hey Edwin, this is Jasiri from the fossil lab, but you can call me Jas if you want. I'm going for a jog on the lake Saturday and I was wondering if we could meet up at some point, perhaps on the corner of North and Clark at 10 AM?_

While walking, I decided to text her back.

_Sure sounds great, I will see you then! Perhaps after that we could go to this art gallery in Bucktown later that night?_

I was walking up the stairs when I heard my phone's text tone again and saw that Jasiri replied to my text.

_I'm sorry, after our jog, I already have plans to visit an old roommate that's visiting. Can't wait to meet up for that jog though!_

As I soon got back to the lab, I just replied back.

_Okay, see you then!_

The rest of that work week consisted of protein crystallography and analyses. Even when I have been forming some more friendships, they still seem to be pretty evasive about their pasts before college or the army for Beshte's case.

BEEP ….. BEEP…... BEEP…. BEEP…. BEEP …..BEEP…. BEEP….. BEEP…... BEEP

I woke to the sound of my alarm, I looked to see that it was 5:00 AM, but then I realized that it was Saturday and I had that jog with Jasiri today. I had five hours before we were supposed to meet so I had some time on my hands. I showered, brushed my teeth, shaved and got dressed. I decided to wear my black short-sleeved jogger shirt with a pair of black shorts that have a gray stripe on each side. I initially decided to pass the time by watching a little TV but I found nothing interesting to watch, proving that cable TV is terrible during the weekends. After reading some news stories online for the past two hours, I headed out to catch the Blue Line.

I got on the Blue Line and sat for a few stops and I got off at Damen. After exiting the Blue Line stop, I walked to a bus stop across the street to wait for the 72 bus to North and Clark. After a 17 minute ride, I got off at the corner of North and Clark by the Chicago History Museum in Lincoln Park. As I got off the bus, I saw Jasiri sitting on a bench near the water fountain. I saw that she was wearing a grey sleeveless shirt with some purple shorts, which I thought really complimented her hair.

"So I see that streams of water also seem to calm you down." I said as I approached her bench. She seemed to notice me and flashed a light smile.

"Oh hey Edwin, yeah this fountain is much more affordable than a spa appointment...So I see you took the bus here?" She replied.

"Actually a bus and the Blue Line, I live in the Logan Square area. So I take it that you live near here then?" I said.

"Actually I live in the West Loop area, I took the Red Line here." Jasiri said

"Okay that's cool, want to start jogging now?" I asked.

"Yeah, let's get this started." She said as she got off the bench and began to jog.

We jogged along the pathway through a portion of Lincoln Park and then we crossed the bridge that connected Lincoln Park to North Avenue Beach. Once we reached the beach we soon moved North along the Lakefront Trail. We eventually stopped in a park near Montrose Beach. We approached a bench in the park and we began to sit down after an hour or two of jogging.

"Man that was refreshing." I calmly said.

"Yeah, I should jog with you more often! I tried to do it with Fuli from security one time, but she kept outrunning me by a lot and we lost each other at one point. I also tried it with Makuu but he was upset because he kept bumping into people." Jasiri said.

"Oh okay, did Makuu get crouton slingshot level mad or.." I began to say.

"Oh no, he didn't get that mad but he was still upset because he has this thing about personal space." Jasiri added.

"I'm just curious, how long have you lived in Chicago?" I asked.

"About six or seven years. After I came to the US from Tanzania, I lived in Milwaukee, and then I went to UCLA for my bachelor's degree and I moved here for my graduate program at UIC. What about you, how long have you been here?" Jasiri said.

"I was born and raised here, though I live in the Logan Square neighborhood now, I grew up in the Rogers Park neighborhood. I went to DePauw University for undergrad. It was in a small town in Indiana called Greencastle, yeah I'm never going to that town again, it was the most boring experience of my goddamn life. I then went back here to get my graduate degree at the University of Chicago. So do you have any family that still live in either Tanzania or Milwaukee?" I replied. But suddenly, Jasiri developed this slightly depressed expression on her face.

"Well in a sense, Makuu is kinda like my family here and I have a few old friends in Milwaukee but that's practically it for me. I haven't really contacted my biological family in a long time." She said with an expression as if she was almost going to cry.

"Oh I'm so sorry, I probably shouldn't have brought it up.."I started to apologize to her in a rapid manner. I was about to put my hand on her shoulder when she grabbed it and started to have a slightly more elated expression while she tried to wipe the almost-tears from her eye.

"Oh no, it's fine..you didn't know...I'd rather not talk about my family that much. What about you, do you have family members that are still here?" She said.

"Only my mother, she still lives in the Rogers Park area. My parents got divorced as soon as my sister graduated high school, so I was about twenty at that time. Last time I heard, my dad met another woman, remarried and moved to Florida. I also have a sister who works at an international consulting firm, but I honestly don't know where she is, last time she contacted me, she told me that she was in Shanghai. I also have some aunts and cousins in the east coast but I never really talk to them anymore and all my grandparents are dead. So in a way, I also have only one family member and a couple of friends from my past that I still talk to." I said.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Edwin. Were you surprised when your parents got divorced?" Jasiri asked.

"Oh no, to be honest I was actually kind of relieved. They argued with each other constantly and the marriage had been on the rocks since I was about five, even when my sister and I were kids, and part of me was wondering why their divorce came that late." I replied.

"Oh...I understand. So do you want to jog back to the bench by the history museum?" Jasiri asked. She seemed a little desperate to change the subject.

"Sure, no problem. I think that we should jog with each other more often! You're a great friend to be with!" I said with slightly more enthusiasm.

"Yeah we definitely should! But next time, let's try to jog south along the Lakefront Trail." Jasir said more enthusiastically.

"Sure, why not!" I said.

After that conversation, we jogged back in the direction of the Chicago History Museum and once we reached there, we promised that we will see each other at work the next week and we both went our separate ways. As soon as I got on the 72 bus, I kept thinking about the conversation that Jasiri that I had and I felt that we definitely made a connection as friends but I also have this feeling in my mind that it could be something more, either that or that run really tired me out this time.


	10. Chapter 10: The Gala

Chapter 10:

As the weeks go by, I am really starting to feel at home at my new research position at the museum. I really click with my colleagues and I have made some close friends in some of the other departments as well. Since that first jog, I have jogged with Jasiri a second time and I have had coffee with Beshte and some of my lab colleagues a few times.

But even when I have developed these friendships there was one thing that I was still suspicious about...none of them seemed to be available at night. Even when I have had friends that over-occupy themselves but I never saw it in a way in which they are never available any night but are open to any time during the day.

It's a warm Friday morning in early July, as usual I took the Blue and Red Lines to work. I am both excited and anxious for later tonight because the museum is having this summer gala for researchers and employees. Even though that I'm excited to have some time to hang out with my colleagues but I am also a little nervous for this gala since it is black tie formal and the museum president and their family will be attending this event.

I eventually went into the museum, check in with security and I went upstairs to the DNA lab department. I went into my office and placed by bag under my desk, grabbed my laptop and lab notebooks to head to the lab. As I was about to grab a lab coat when I noticed something different about it...instead of the blank lab coat that I have usually grabbed for the past month, I saw a lab coat that had some blue towards the upper left area. I looked closely at the writing to see whose coat it is and it said:

_Dr. Edwin G. Mariani, PhD_

_Genetics Researcher_

I was surprised to see that it was actually my jacket. Even when I knew that I would eventually get a jacket with my name on it, I didn't think it would be that soon. I then heard footsteps in the hallway near the laboratory along with a familiar voice.

"I see that figured out our little surprise." I turned around to see Ma Tembo with her lab coat and hair in a bun. She seemed to be giving a gentle smile to me.

"Oh hi Ma Tembo! I just found the coat right now. I honestly didn't think this happen until later because when I was working at Genico, I didn't receive my jacket until I have worked there four months." I said in surprise yet delight.

"That might be how things are done at Genico, but not here. We usually give named jackets to researchers after their first month to mark their first milestone while working for us and as of today Edwin, you have reached that first milestone." Ma Tembo said with a sense of pride in her voice.

"This is so sweet of you Ma Tembo, I really appreciate the gesture. Thank you!" I replied.

"It's my pleasure, Edwin. How is sequencing the lichen DNA going?" Ma Tembo asked.

"It's going well, though it can be time consuming sequencing each individual strand of DNA." I replied.

"I understand, sometimes I feel the same way when I constantly help out the interns, but it's rewarding." Ma Tembo said before heading to the back of the lab.

The next few hours after that moment were exhausting, whether it was sequencing lichen genomes to assisting the interns with their projects. After those four hours, I finally decided to go on my lunch break. I went down to the cafe with the rest of my colleagues and we went to sit at our usual table. We sat down looking all exhausted hoping for a moment of rest, but that was slightly interrupted when Beshte approached our table.

"Hey guys, how's it… man you guys look wiped out? Did you guys ran a marathon in the lab or something?" Beshte said while he was sitting down. This made me wake up a little bit.

"Wait wha… oh hey Beshte, no we didn't run a marathon, our lab's interns have just been driving us insane this week and they practically exhausted us to death today." I replied in a tired yet slightly irritated tone.

"So many questions, so many people asking for help,and I just need some space from it all." Bupu said in a definitively irritated tone.

"I guess I can understand, I have encountered like 10 children who try to touch the artifacts, 8 obnoxious tourists, 4 lost children and one kid who threw up in the first floor hallway." Beshte said.

"I'm just ready for this day to be over so that I can get ready for the gala tonight." Makini said.

"I know, I already have a dress ready picked out." Vuruga said.

"That's cool, I also rented a tux from this place on Dearborn." Pete said.

"That's cool. I'm just going to wear the tuxedo I wore for my PhD ceremony with a different tie, but I'm not concerned about that, what I am concerned about is that I might accidentally make a fool of myself in front of the museum president." I said

"Oh don't worry, you'll be fine. The museum president is a fairly reasonable person. I've known the family for years." Beshte said.

At that point of the conversation, Jasiri walked to our table and sat down. Since my first week at the museum, she and Makuu occasionally sit with us during our lunch breaks.

"Hey guys, I just need to warn you that when Makuu comes..do NOT say anything about interns, one of them messed up big in our lab and Makuu is still pissed about it. So just try to talk about anything else." Jasiri said in a worried tone.

"Okay, we won't mention it Jasiri. It's probably for our benefit too, our interns have drove us insane today too." I replied with a reassuring tone. But when Makuu started to walk towards our table. The table fell into silence, with all of us shifting our concentration towards our lunches. After a few seconds, Beshte decided to break the ice.

"Hey Makuu, got any plans for this weekend? Because a friend of mine from the army is visiting and we plan to go out for some drinks Saturday night, you're more than welcome to join us if you want?" Beshte said. Makuu just then gave out an irritated stare baring an expression that was almost anger but not exactly full-blast anger.

"I'm sorry Beshte but I'm not exactly in the mood to socialize. One of those motherfucking interns damaged one of my specimens! I still can't believe that for nineteen-twenty years old, an intern could have the coordination of a frigging ten year old. On second though perhaps I should join you for that drink so that I can just forget about today completely." Makuu said in an irritated tone.

"I guess we can understand, our interns have been driving us crazy this week too. We could just let it go at the gala tonight." Vuruga said.

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll just forget about what those interns did after you get some time to relax tonight." Pete said.

"Excuse me guys, but I'm just going to use the restroom, can you watch my stuff for me, it'll just be a minute?" I said.

"Sure Edwin, we can watch your stuff" Makini said in a casual tone. After which, I began to rise from my seat and head towards the bathroom.

Third Person P.O.V:

As Edwin left to use the restroom, something popped into Bupu's head. His eyes slightly widened band turned to the rest of the group.

"Uh guys, I just thought of something, since Edwin is going to the gala tonight, that would mean…" Bupu was about to finish before the others catch up to the realization.

"He's going to find out! Oh my! I don't know how we are going to explain this to him!" Vuruga said with obvious signs of anxiety.

"Calm down, Vuruga, you don't want him to get suspicious. If he has to find out this way, let's just let him find out. I have jogged with him like two or three times, I think he might be understanding towards the situation that we went through." Jasiri replied.

"Wait a sec? you guys haven't told him yet?! Perhaps there will be something interesting to see other than a boring gala." Makuu said in a shocked tone. Though he also was a little amused of the possible reaction that Edwin will have of this revelation.

"This is not something to joke around about Makuu! We don't know how Edwin is going to handle this!" Makini said with irritation.

"Okay, Okay guys calm down, I'm sure that Edwin would understand when he finds out. But if it will be anything like how I found out then I would recommend that someone should try to calm him down. Let's just make the gala be the cam before the storm" Pete said.

Edwin P.O.V.

I walked towards the table and I see many of the others seemed to be deep in discussion.

"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" I asked. After I said that, I just received a bunch of awkward stares from them as if I told them that there was a fire.

"Oh hi Edwin, we were just talking about...uhhhh...oh we were just talking about some of the stuff each of our interns have done." Makini said in a rushed manner. She almost seemed as if she was stressed about something.

"Okaay?..." I said. I'm a little suspicious because this has not been the first time that they had an anxious dialogue when I left the room. Is it related to my job performance? Are they trash-talking about me behind my back? Are they planning a surprise party? Or is it even about me? Is one of them going through something?

I just sat down and continued to eat my lunch. There were like two minutes of silence before Vuruga stared at me from her plate.

"So Edwin, I saw that you got your lab coat engraved with your. That's cool!" She said.

"Thanks! I just received it this morning." I said.

"I also noticed that you're engraving, said Edwin G. Mariani. I'm just curious, what does the G stands for?" Makini asked.

"Oh, the G stands for Gianluca, my middle name. Yeah, it was my mother's father's name." I replied.

"Okay, are you close with him?" Makini asked.

"To some extent, I have visited him like once or twice a year but he died when I was thirteen." I said.

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that." Makini replied.

"It's okay, it was like fifteen years ago and he lived a full-life." I replied. We just talked about more casual topics and we soon went back to our labs.

For me the rest of that day was spent sequencing parts of lichen genomes. Several of my colleagues and I actually finished an hour early, possibly due to the gala. So I took the Red and Blue Lines home and when I got back to my apartment I changed out of the clothes that I was wearing at work today so that I could change into my tuxedo for tonight.

To see how it looked on me, I walked in front of my bathroom mirror. I saw that it still looked the same as when I first earned my PhD. It was just a black suit pants and jacket with a white button down shirt under it. I also put on a blue clip-on bow tie for a new touch.

After having a breath mint, I placed my phone, keys and wallet into my pants pocket. I then placed my hair back in a ponytail and I headed out for the door to walk the two flights to the first floor.

It was around 5:30 when I reached the corner of Kedzie and Milwaukee and I ordered an Uber off of my phone. I'm taking an Uber because first, I don't want to risk getting a stain on my tux in the subway and my car at the mechanic until tomorrow morning, so Uber is my only option for now.

After my Uber arrived, I stared out the window to see if watching the buildings would help calm me down. I eventually arrived at the museum half an hour later. I walked to see that some people also in formal wear were entering the museum. I reached my pocket to grab my museum ID and I saw that Beshte was working in the front gate in a similar tuxedo that I was wearing. I approached him with my ID.

"Hey Beshte, looking sharp!" I said. He then turned his head towards me and gave out a light chuckle.

"Hey Edwin! Thanks! I like your tux too! It's suits you well." Beshte replied, while I gave him my ID.

"Thanks! I can't wait to loosen up and relax from this stressful week" I said.

"Me neither, I'll probably join in once I finish checking people in." Beshte said, while he gave me my ID back.

"I hope you have a good time Edwin." Beshte said.

"Thanks! You too!" I said, while walking into the museum.

As I walked through the glass doors, I saw that the main floor was decked out with tables spread out across the white marble floor; there was even one table a few feet from the titanosaurus skeleton and one a few feet from the totem poles. Each table was round with a cream colored table cloth with around seven or eight black chairs around these circular tables. I approached a table that has several name tags and I saw that one of the tags had my name on it and below my name I saw that it had the number 10 on it. Since I also saw that there were numbers on the tables so I presume that it was my table number.

I walked around the plaza to see that many people were talking with each other whether they were standing around or sitting at a table. I eventually found the table which seated both my colleagues from the genetics lab and even some from the fossil lab… I guess they grouped all those in the sciences at one table.

Among my colleagues, I saw that Bupu was wearing a black corduroy suit jacket, matching pants, a white button down underneath with a brown bowtie. Vuruga was wearing a solid dark red dress with a gold chain and earrings. Pete was wearing a tux with a black suit jacket with a white undershirt and a tan bow tie. Makini was wearing a strapless lavender dress with some lace patterns present while also wearing the little silver earrings she wore to work today. Along with my colleagues in the genetics lab, I saw Makuu wearing a similar tux to Pete's but with a light green bowtie. I then approached the table and took a seat.

"Hey guys, you are all looking nice!" I said as I sat down.

"Hi Edwin! Thank you! You are looking sharp yourself!" Makini replied.

"Thanks! I guess it doesn't look bad after a year or two of not wearing it." I said.

"I honestly wouldn't have guessed that you haven't worn it in a year, it still looked as if it had just been dry cleaned." Bupu said.

"I agree, you look pretty nice Edwin!" a voice said from behind me. I turned around to see that it was Jasiri and in my mind, my jaw dropped when I saw what she was wearing. She was absolutely gorgeous.

I saw that she was wearing a dark midnight blue dress, which had a pattern of clear sequents in the upper half with some dark purple sapphire earrings to compliment the indigo streaks in her hair.

"Oh...hi Jasiri!...uhh..You look amazing tonight! Love the dress" I said in a slightly nervous tone. I thought making a fool of myself near the museum president was my main concern for tonight, but I guess that making a fool of myself in front of Jasiri.

"Thanks! I got it at this store on Washington Boulevard and I have saved up some money for a month to buy this...uhh Edwin are you okay?" Jasiri said looking a little bit worried. Her concern was probably caused by me dazily staring at her because I got distracted by her beauty. I then heard her ask me if I was okay so I shook my head and got myself back into focus.

"Oh I'm fine, I was just curious on where you got those earrings. They really look good on you." I said as an attempted save.

"Oh okay, thanks and these earrings were a gift from an old friend." She said.

Soon thirty minutes pass by and as we ate our appetizers, we saw Ma Tembo walking towards our table carrying a half-filled wine glass. She was wearing a yellow dress with long sleeves and little gold sphere earrings.

"Edwin, pleasure to see you! There are some people that I would like to introduce you to. They are right this way." Ma Tembo said while gesturing her hand towards a table behind her.

"Okay..sure." I said as I stood up and started to follow her towards where she was gesturing.

As I followed Ma Tembo, we approached a table with six people sitting in it. I saw that security guard, Kion, was there with his red hair in a similar pony tail to mine, while wearing a black tuxedo with a red pocket square. I also saw that tour guide, I think her name was either Vitani or Milani, but that's beside the point. Anyway, the tour guide was wearing a cream white dress with a silver oval pin on her dress's left sleeve and on that pin was the letter "V" so I guess my first guess of "Vitani" was right. Along with those two people, I also saw four totally new people at the table and two of them had long hair like me, but their hair is slightly longer. One man with a black tuxedo and white tie, looked as if he was in his mid to late fifties and he had brown eyes with long brown hair that seems to show a little graying. The other new guy had much darker hair, practically pitch black, with green eyes and he appeared to be in his early thirties. The black haired guy was wearing a black tuxedo with a white rose on his lapel. There were also two women at the table, one of them was about the same age as the brown haired guy but she had short blond hair, deep blue eyes and was wearing a solid black silk dress with a v-neck along with a gold chain and diamond earrings. The other woman was closer in age to the black-haired guy and she had short blond hair as well, but a darker shade than the other woman. She also had brown eyes, and was wearing a green dress with some lace patterns, one strap over her right shoulder, with a thin silver necklace and some green sapphire earrings to match her dress.

"Hello your majesties, I would like to introduce you to Dr. Edwin Mariani, our newest researcher in the genetics lab. He is helping us determine the rate of mutation of lichen DNA in correlation to changing environmental conditions." Ma Tembo said. I wonder why she was introducing me to this group of people and why did she refer to them as 'your majesties'...oh crap, are they members of some country's royal family? Or are they aristocracy from the UK.?...Okay, I'm really nervous now.

"Hello, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintances tonight." I said to them and they just stared at each other for a second or two ...Why did I just say that? Tell me!..Why the hell did I just say that?..But suddenly I heard a little bit of laughter coming from two or three members of the groups.

"You too Edwin! but we would have just gone with a casual greeting, I'm actually not that into formal stuffy titles like that, we're not royalty or anything like that. By the way, I'm Kiara, Kiara Furahi-Mgeni, I work in the General Counsel." The woman in the green dress said while reaching out her hand for a shake.

"Nice to meet you Ms. Furahi-Mgen-" I said while shaking her hand.

"Actually, I just prefer Kiara, I am not one for titles." Kiara then said in a casual tone.

Seeming to have jovial attitude about it and she seemed like an approachable person. Then the guy with the long black hair and green eyes stood up and reached out his hand.

"Nice to meet you Dr. Mariani, my name is Dr. Kovu Mgeni, but you can just refer to me as Kovu. I work in the artifact conservation lab and I am also Kiara's husband." He said while shaking my hand.

"It's a pleasure Kovu, you can call me Edwin, or even Ed if you want." I replied as we released from each other's grip. He then walked towards the tour guide.

"This is my sister, Vitani, she's a tour guide here." Kovu said. While I was shaking her hand, Kovu then moved towards Kion.

"And this is Kion, he is Kiara's brother and he is a security guard for the museum." Kovu continued.

"Oh yeah, we have actually met before by the check-in a few times." I replied as the two of us shook hands.

"Oh yeah, you're that genetics guy who always seems to almost scratches my shoes." Kion said in a calm yet tellingly irritated tone.

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry about that, I guess my mind always just seems to be focused on work, and sometimes my phone." I said, trying to lighten the mood of the conversation.

"Well, I think you should be focused on watching where you are going." Kion said blankly while walking towards a nearby table. After this the blonde woman in the black dress came towards Ma Tembo and I.

"Don't worry about him, he can be a little blunt sometimes, but he's a decent person to be around. Oh, where are my manners, I'm Nala Furahi, I'm the museum's chief financial officer and I'm also Kiara and Kion's mother." She said while shaking my hand.

Nala then gestured towards the long brown-haired man next to her, who in response began to look towards me.

"And this is my husband, Simba, he is the museum's chief executive officer and the museum's president." Nala said.

After Nala said that her husband was the museum president, many emotions were running through my head. Should I try to continue a conversation or should I just shake his hand and just leave? Or perhaps I already made a bad impression through that ridiculous greeting. So I just reached out to shake his hand.

"Hello Mr. Furahi, it is a pleasure to meet you and i apologize if my greeting earlier was overly formal greeting earlier." I said to try to lighten things up.

"Oh no, it's okay, I actually thought it was kind of creative. So I heard that you are studying lichen DNA, can you tell me a little more about that?" Simba said.

"Sure, so you know how the structures of certain proteins can change in response to an alteration of temperature and pH? Well our study is trying to determine the specific proteins, sequences and other aspects of the DNA of those lichen proteins with both current environmental conditions and the conditions of samples that have been collected over the course of several decades. We are particularly studying lichen species such as-" I was telling him before I heard a xylophone tone. After hearing the tone I saw Simba pick up his phone.

"Your research sounds interesting Edwin, but I have to take this phone call right now. But it was nice meeting you!" Simba said before he put the phone to his ear.

I started to talk a little about my research to the group and they seem to have some level of interest in the subject. After I finished, Ma Tembo and I headed back to the table with our group and we all started to head to the caterers to get our meals. After getting our food we were talking to each other, sometimes complaining about our interns and even sharing a few stories. For example, I learned that Makini and Makuu are actually in the same self-defense class and that Vuruga once thought about becoming a cardiologist before becoming a genetics researcher.

It is almost eight thirty in the evening and we were just talking as we have been for the previous hour. But then came a sudden feeling in my gut...perhaps that chicken I ate didn't agree with me.

"Excuse me, guys, I'm just going to use the restroom for a little bit, can you save my seat for me." I asked.

"Sure no problem Edwin." Jasiri said. I then walked towards the restroom and I looked around at all the other people in the plaza having a good time.

When I entered the restroom I saw that it had been recently mopped so I approached with caution to avoid slipping on the wet floor but then I almost slipped when I heard a loud groan.

"_Aaaggghhh", _After hearing that I try to reposition my feet and continued to walk towards a stall... I guess someone else's digestive system disagreed with the food tonight.

I was in the stall for five or six minutes and after I flushed the toilet and pulled my pants up. But I when I opened the door, I just stared in utter shock and surprised because towards my left where the sinks were I swear that in front of me was...a lion in a tuxedo?

But that was NOT all, because this lion was standing on two legs, with his shoes on and they were using a cell phone like a human being. I then saw that they put away the phone in their pants pocket and began to place his hands..or paws in the water. Their hands were something that I have never seen before in my life. They seemed to have the same shaped hands and fingers as humans but when I took a peak at their palms of their hands through the mirror, I saw that there were these black formations in the palm and fingers around the dark brown fur on his hands. The brown of his fur was darker than I have seen on any picture or zoo exhibit, it was almost a gingerbread color but slightly darker than that. This lion also had pitch black hair or mane... or whatever he has, but the most noticeable detail about them was what looks like a scar across their left eye.

I was shocked to see this, but what shocked me was that his tuxedo looked familiar in a way with the green eyes and the white rose on his jacket. Then I realized that it was probably that Kovu guy I met earlier and perhaps I only see him as a lion because I've probably overworked this week and I'm probably just seeing things out of straight up exhaustion. So after the lion...I meant Kovu left, I just put some water on my face to wake myself up a little bit.

But when I got out of the restroom….the surprise was just beginning.

I looked to see that with the exception of a few people, everyone in the plaza suddenly became animals, all of the sudden. There was a zebra and giraffe chatting with each other in one table, an enlarged meerkat talking to what looks like a badger in the next table, and the people that Kovu was sitting with earlier we all lions now, in which they were in the middle of toasting their wine glasses.

What is going on? Did I get drunk off only half a glass of wine? Or was there something in my food causing me to hallucinate? Has my food been laced with something? I JUST NEED AN ANSWER ON WHAT'S GOING ON?!

So in a state of confusion, I cautiously went back to my table and my fair share of surprises has not ended. When I got to my table, I saw that everyone there sitting around my table, have 'transformed' as part of this possible hallucination. They were all wearing the same clothes but they were all anthropomorphic animals, but Pete was the only one who looked normal. From the table I saw that apparently, Ma Tembo was now an elephant, Bupu was an antelope, Makini was a mandril, Vuruga was some type of buffalo, Makuu was a crocodile, and Jasiri was some type of long-haired hyena. I wonder why Pete is the only one that still appears human?

As I approached the table, I couldn't help but overhear a discussion they were having with each other.

"I am sorry guys but I am not sure how to explain this Edwin.." Makini began to say.

"Explain what to me?!" I interrupted in surprise. Did they know what was going on with me? Anyway, my interruption seemed to have startled them a little bit.

"Oh Edwin! Uhh...well we were just talking about.." Makini began to say while the rest of the group seemed to flash a bunch of awkward smiles and expressions.

"Wait? Did one of you put something in my food?! Or can you please tell me why I am seeing these hallucinations all of the sudden? Because even since I went to the restroom, I have been seeing animals that are normally on four legs only standing on two? I'm not sure why these visions are animal based but-" I was saying all of this in a panicked and confused tone.

All of the sudden, Jasiri started to walk towards me and sat in the empty chair next to me, with an apprehensive expression on her face.

"Edwin, I'm not sure how to explain this but...uh... but...just feel my hand and I'll swear that this is real. Nobody drugged you or anything like that." She said slowly with a much quieter tone as she began to stretch her arm towards me.

"What do are talking about Jasiri?! Someone must have drugged my food! Why am I seeing these hallucinations? And what does feeling your arm have anything to do about-" I was beginning to say... but I eventually stopped when I touched her arm.

I was shocked to feel that her entire arm was covered in soft, greyish-brown fur, though I saw some areas have almost spots of a dark purple-black color. When I got closer to her hands I saw that her palms had similar formations to the ones I saw on Kovu's hands in the bathroom. I felt to see that it the formations had an almost scratchy, flesh-like texture. I then took a look at her nails and saw that they were that they were now small black claws in their place. I was just beside myself in confusion...practically shocked in silence.

"Wha..Wha..Why am I feeling fur on your arm?! Why are your nails claws?! You guys can't be werewolves or anything like that...cause those are make-believe, Right?!. Is this some kind of medical condition? Or…" I was just trying to think and talk of explanations of what is happening here.

"Edwin, there is something that we need to-" Jasiri said before I interrupted her.

"That's it! Perhaps I got myself so exhausted work that I literally drove myself insane! Yeah, yeah that's probably it! ...All I need is just some rest and relaxation! Yeah!" I said as I began to stand from my chair while the others just stared at me with concerned expressions.

I'm sorry that I'm leaving so early, I had a good time but I need some time to just refresh my-" I began to say before I accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oh I'm so sor-" I said but paused when I felt and looked at their hands and thy were dry, grey and wrinkly with wide black appendages and I looked up at the person… and that person was actually a hippo! They just appeared to have a bit of a surprised expression on their face.

"Wha Wha what?! Or who are you?!" I said practically yelling. The hippo's expression changed from a surprised to a concerned expression.

"Edwin? Please calm down. it's me Beshte. Let me-" The hippo began to say before I interrupted them.

"Aw man, either I've really lost my mind or I somehow entered an alternate dimen-Or is this some kind of government experiment that I accidentally walked into?! Uhh… I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!" I screamed in a panicked frenzied state.

As I began to run to the staircase to the lower floor I heard Beshte's voice calling towards me.

"_EDWIN WAIT!_"

I bolted down the staircase to the lower floor and I saw the glass door towards the parking lot and park outside the museum. I don't care if it's night and I don't have my car at the moment. I don't care if I have to take the Red Line, bus, hitch-hike or even run all the way back home, I JUST NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS MUSEUM!

I began to run towards the doors down the hallway, my escape was only yards away! I was about to go leave...but I then stopped when another figure walked right in front of me...and they had a gun!

As I raised my arms above my head, I noticed that the gunman was also wearing a tuxedo with a black jacked, but they had a blue and purple pocket square with a red bow tie. As I saw their face; I saw that they had the face of what appears to be some kind of primate with long white hair, red and blue stripes down their face and brown eyes. I think I've seen this type of primate in a book or something, I believe they're called mandrills..But that is besides the point now since they are now pointing their pistol directly towards me.

"Please! Please! Please don't shoot me! I promise I won't tell anyone! In fact you don't even have to pay me to keep my mouth shut! Just let me leave and your secret is safe with-" I said as I tried to negotiate with them but they continued to position their gun towards me while they gestured me to be quiet.

"Don't worry Edwin, this will only hurt a little bit,... this is for your own good." An old familiar voice came out, as if she was trying to calm me down.

"Wait?! How do you know my- Holy shit! You're that guy from human resour-" I began to say when he slowly placed his finger on the trigger.

"NO! NO! WAIT! WAIT! I promise that I won't tell! PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME! PLEASE JUST LET ME GO-" I plead with my life when I heard…a click.

Why didn't I hear a gunshot, did they use a silencer or is gun jammed. When I tried to look for another way out.. I felt a stinging pain on my shoulder.

I saw that there was some type of dart sticking in my shoulder blade. Why was there a dart in my shoul- is this some kind of tranquilizer dart..or was it a poison dart so my death won't leave any blood stains?

Either way, I yanked the dart out of my shoulder and I quickly ran in circles to see if there was another exit, while the human resources guy was just standing there with the gun for some reason.

I then saw that one of the glass doors in the far left was unguarded..but my vision started to become blurry.

I tried running to the door as fast as I could, but whatever was in that dart was starting to overwhelm my body

I am only five feet away from the door when I began to stubble and I can't seem to get back up...But the substance in the dart overtook my body, I collapsed onto the floor and my entire surroundings became pitch black.


	11. Chapter 11: The Truth

**Author's** **Note: **Hello readers, I apologize for such the long delay but here is Chapter 11 of my story. This is the longest chapter that I have written so far and I apologize if there maybe to much detail. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Jasiri P.O.V. (5 minutes earlier)

The situation is now getting tense since we all went to our animal-hybrid forms. I hate seeing Edwin this flustered and freaked out about this. There is basically no option, we have to tell him everything but then I got distracted by Beshte yelling towards a frantic Edwin.

"_EDWIN WAIT!"_ He yelled, while Edwin was running down the stairwell eventually disappearing from sight.

Beshte then practically ran to our table, now in his hippo form.

"Okay guys! We really need to tell Edwin everything! And I mean everything! The Pridelands, Tree of Life, the coup, the droughts, the transformation, EVERYTHING! But I need your help to get Edwin back here so some of you just follow my lead!" Beshte yelled. At that, myself, Ma Tembo, Makini and the others at the table stood up while we just followed Beshte's lead.

While I was running towards the stairwell, I heard some additional footsteps coming behind us. I just assumed some other people came from other tables just out of sheer curiosity.

It took me a little longer than expected to go down the stairs..Why did I choose to where heels tonight?... Even after all of these years, I still don't get why human women would wear these things.

We then arrived at the lower floor hallway and we were running down the hallway for a minute until we reached the area by glass doors ...and that's when I really got concerned.

We just froze in shock when we saw Edwin lying in the middle of the floor, lying still as one of the specimens in the nearby display cases. And the we see Rafiki in his mandrill form...just standing there...WITH A GUN?! I just took a few steps forward ...and lost it.

"WHAT THE FUCK RAFIKI?! Please tell me you didn't- You didn't have to kill him! Why the hell would you do-" I just bursted out in sheer rage and shock, as if I was living the great drought all over again. But Rafiki then just pulled up his finger and just tried to shush me. Several of the others were also ready to curse Rafiki out as well, but he then he just placed out his hands to give out the "calm down" gesture.

"Woah! Woah! Woah! Hold on! Shwari my friends! I didn't kill Edwin. I have no intention to kill him. I'm still the same Rafiki from the Pride Lands twenty years ago and you guys know that I would never kill anyone. I just knocked him out for a bit, he'll probably just be out for a bit." Rafiki said while maintaining the same calm tone that he has had ever since I've known him.

"Knock him out? What do you mean knock him out?" Beshte asked in curiosity.

"Yeah! When I found out, you guys just gave me some tea to relax my nerves and you can't give a panicked geneticist tea while he is running." Pete chimed in.

Then Anga walked to the front, now in her harrier eagle form while wearing her purple dress. She then picked up a small gray capsule with a point at the end.

"I think whatever was in this dart knocked this guy out. What was in this dart?" Anga asked while gesturing her head towards Rafiki. ...Which was the one question we were all asking.

"Please don't tell me you poisoned him." Beshte said, with his expression more and more concerned. Rafiki the held up the gun he was holding.

"Oh relax! It's just a tranquilizer gun! He will only be out for about an hour." Rafiki said in a nonchalant tone.

"Wait a minute! Where did you get a tranquilizer gun from?" Ma Tembo chimes in.

"Amazon. You wouldn't believe what you can buy from there." Rafiki said while giving off a light chuckle.

Ever since we left the Pride Lands, he seems to get a little bit crazier every year. Makuu then leaned to whisper in my ear. "And I thought that he was crazy before the drought hit." While I just gave him a short nod in response.

Rafiki then turned to Edwin's unconscious body and then faced towards the rest of us.

"I'm sorry to leave the festivities so early but I think that I should bring Dr. Mariani to my office to check on him and explain the whole situation to him when we wake up...Beshte? Can you grab his legs for me?" Rafiki said while he approached Edwin's upper body.

"Sure! No problem!" Beshte said as he walked towards Edwin's legs. As the two started to lift the body Makini started to approach them as well.

"I can help you carry one of his sides." Makini said.

"So can I!" Ma Tembo pitched in. As soon as Ma Tembo approached the body. I thought I should probably go with them because I could probably help explain this whole situation to him when he wakes up.

"Hey guys, is it okay if I come with you to check on Edwin; we have hung out a couple of times and I think I could help explain things to Edwin." I said.

"Sure, no problem Jas!" Beshte said. I then approached the group as we started to go to the elevator to head to Rafiki's office.

"See you guys later! We are really sorry to leave the festivities early!" Makini said.

"Oh no problem Makini! We completely understand Edwin's reaction earlier tonight, many of our human employees had similar reactions when they first found out. Besides, it was starting to die down when he freaked out anyway." Nala replied with a calm tone and a gentle smile.

We then proceeded to carry Edwin to the elevator, but I was still having a little trouble walking in these heels. Why did I choose to wear these things tonight?

Edwin P.O.V. (1 hour later)

From the pitch black, I see that there is a little light peaking above, growing brighter and brighter, starting to blink a little more each time. I was starting to wake up...but for some reason I'm hearing voices.

"_Oh guys! He's stirring ...stirring...stirring!" _I heard someone's voice echo.

"_I think he's waking up...up...up!" _I then heard a female voice echo.

I then fully opened my eyes to see a light above me..but it was not a light in my apartment's ceiling. I guess I had a little too much wine at the gala and perhaps that animal-thing and the tranquilizer was just a hallucination?

"Oh, I see you're waking up, are you okay Edwin?" I heard Jasiri's voice ask. I began to turn my head towards her voice.

"Oh hey Jasiri, I just had the craziest dream. We were at the gala and I swore that you guys all turned into wild anim-AAAAAAHHHH!" I said as I turned around to see that Jasiri and a few others were still apparently anthropomorphic animals.

Through the clothes I remember them wearing, I deduced that Jasiri was the hyena, Beshte was the hippo, Ma Tembo was the elephant, the mandrill with the brown fur on their head is Makini and the mandrill with white fur on their head was the human resources guy, Rafiki

Now I am worried for my life and I tried to get up from the couch I was laying on, but I was yanked back by something and I looked to see that one of my hands is hand-cuffed to a nearby cabinet. I'm trying to yank it loose but I can't get it loose.

"Please let me leave! If I intruded in some kind of government testing, I swear not to tell anyone! I swear you don't even have to pay me, I swear not to tell just lea-" I was yelling in fear but I was cut off by Jasiri interjecting while she places her hand..or paw...on my shoulder.

"Edwin? Edwin please! I swear to you that this is not a government experiment! This is not a hallucination! And you're not going insane! This is one hundred percent real and we are still at the Field Museum!" As Jasiri said this, I started to look around to see a familiar desk and copier. I realized that I'm in the human resources office.

"Okay, if you guys are still who you say you are then I have three questions: A. Why am I hand-cuffed? B. Why do you guys look of a different species from earlier today? And C. what is going on here?!" I asked with a combination of nervousness and a little bit of irritation.

"Well to answer your first question, the handcuffs were a precautionary step to make sure that you won't runaway again before we explain our situation to you. Like you just did an hour ago, ...and a minute ago." Makini said.

"Yes, that is why I shot you with my tranquilizer gun. It was not my first choice, I used it because I couldn't give tea you in that frenzy and I couldn't hit you with my cane because last time I hit someone with it; I almost gave them a concussion. Ahh, I miss my bakora staff in the Pride Lands, it was hard but just light enough to carry around and knock some sen-" Rafiki continued to ramble until Ma Tembo cut him off.

"Rafiki! You're straying from the point!" Ma Tembo said irritantly.

"Wait a second? What are the Pride Lands? And can you please explain to me what exactly is going on?" I continued to ask.

Beshte slowly began to walk up towards me.

"Oh yeah, right. So that's why we brought you here, Edwin. You know how I told you that many of us came from the same community?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, I think you mentioned that to me a couple of times." I replied with a sense of hesitation.

"Well the Pride Lands was that community. Well..except for Jasiri here. She came from a place called the Outlands. They were both located in Western Tanzania, but that's not the point. The point is that we were not humans all our lives. As you can see, I was actually born a hippo, Jasiri a hyena, Ma Tembo an elephant and so on for many of the employees of this museum and a few outside the museum. For twenty-one years we lived as part-human and part-our-birth species, transforming between the two every day and every night." Beshte replied. Still leaving me curious.

"Transform? You mean like a werewolf or something? And I have two more questions. Why did you become hybrid? Was it some choice to see what the world outside these "Pride Lands" are like? Also, I'm not sure how this transformation works, was it a genetic mutation or is it some kind of medication you take?" I asked. Jasiri looked at me with a slightly uneasy look.

"Oh no, it's not a werewolf kind of thing and Is it okay if we do not use the term "werewolf" again, I have some bad memories associated with it." Jasiri asked

"Okay, no problem. Sorry if I offended you." I replied.

"That's okay, you're new here. So anyway, you could say that it is a permanent genetic mutation caused by this "serum" we took. Also, we did not really have much of a choice when we took it...It was essentially our only option after both our lands fell into ruins." Jasiri said

"Wait? In ruins? What exactly happened to your home?" I asked.

"Okay, but this is gonna be a long story, so Rafiki, I think you should start off." Makini said while looking off towards Rafiki.

"Okay, Edwin my boy. So I was the royal Mjuzi of the Pride Lands, which was kind of a healer, historian and adviser rolled into one position. I started out in the Pride Lands under the leadership of the Lion King Ahadi and after he passed, I started working under King Mufasa, Simba's father." Rafiki said.

"Wait? Simba as in Simba Furahi? The president of the museum? He was a prince of some sort?" I interrupted.

"Well yes, after Mufasa's brother, Scar killed Mufasa to get the throne; he exiled a young Simba where he was eventually raised by a meerkat and a warthog named Timon and Pumbaa. While he was with them, the Pride Lands were in ruins and his future mate Nala eventually found Simba and tried to convince him to return. But after her attempt failed, I had to pitch in and after doing a little convincing, he along with Nala, the meerkat and the warthog returned to battle and defeat Scar and his army of hyenas to take his rightful place as King of the Pride Lands." Rafiki continued.

"But despite this victory, all the surviving hyenas we exiled to the neighboring Outlands and were never allowed to return, even for a visit. That was how I was born in the Outlands. It was a barren existence with barely any food or water. Many hyenas were forced to survive those conditions because of one king's period of paranoia. But Simba eventually got over the paranoia, but he still has not formally apologized after all of those years." Jasiri said.

"So anyway, while Simba and Nala were ruling the Pride Lands, they had two cubs, Kiara and Kion, who you met earlier today. While they were cubs, Kiara spent most of her time training to be the next Queen and Kion spent his time leading group called The Lion Guard, which was to protect both the Circle of Life and other animals such as me and my herd at the time." Ma Tembo said.

"And I was actually a member of Kion's guard, I was considered the Strongest member. It was initially supposed to be all lions but we proved them wrong when my friends Bunga, Fuli, Ono and I joined the guard and proved our critics wrong. But one of our toughest challenges was our time fighting against a group of our enemies called the Army of Scar, which was a group of our enemies cooperating with each other under the control of their new leader. Jasiri even formed a resistance group with her clan to help us fight them. But after our final battle with the group, Kion and Ono both get injured and we had to travel to this place called the Tree of Life to get the necessary treatment. Since Ono was not capable of performing his duty as a Lion Guard member, Anga, a friend of ours, took his place in that department. The journey there is a story too long for one sitting, but any way we get to the Tree of Life for Kion and Ono to receive treatment and Kion also falls in love with the princess and eventually queen of the area, Rani." Beshte added.

"I also came along to help guide them since I've been to the Tree of Life once before that time, but after Kion and Ono were healed, Jasiri and one of the newly reformed enemies came to tell us that the Pride Lands were in danger so we all came back along with another cheetah named Azaad that Fuli met along the way. When we returned, we realized that we missed a whole lot while we were gone. It turned out that one of the old enemy prides led by a lioness named Zira, tried to conquer the Pride Lands to avenge the death of Scar. She manipulated her son Kovu, not to mention her entire pride to think that Scar was the rightful heir and that King Simba should die. But that all came downhill when Kovu fell in love with Kiara and they eventually stopped what was going to be an all out war between the Prides. When the rest of her pride abandoned her cause, Zira just couldn't get let go of her hate, which lead to her falling to her death in a gorge. Kiara and Kovu eventually became mates and his sister Vitani and some of her former Pride mates became the new Lion Guard. But Kion was finding it hard to accept the changes, but he also missed being with Rani. There was eventually a contest to see who will be the Pride Lands' Lion Guard and Kion eventually forfeited thus giving Vitani the new responsibility of the guard. Kion eventually made the new decision with his guard and myself to leave the Pride Lands for the Tree of Life to protect it. Eventually Kion and Rani became mates and became the new monarchs of the Tree of Life…" Makini recalled in detail, but I still wanted to know how they transformed.

"Okay, that seems like a very interesting story, but I'm a little confused on what this has to do with the transformation." I said, with a hint of confusion.

"Oh yeah, I was getting there. So after two months everything was going smoothly at the Tree of Life, but that was until the coup. For almost a year, Rani's uncle Surak, the healer Nirmala, a few other predators and this army of rogues were planning a coup d'etat to force Kion and Rani from the throne. When they put their plan to action...It was bloodshed. I wish I could forget but I can't erase those memories. Many innocent animals were killed and slaughtered, while many others were forced into exile. I still remember the expression Rani had when she saw her own uncle killed her brother. We tried our best, but they were just too powerful and Kion, Rani, the guard and I eventually had to escape with our lives. We decided to take refuge back in the Pride Lands to help its residents prepare for the upcoming dry season. It was going pretty well to be back home with our family and friends...but disaster was not finished following us yet." Makini said in a more serious tone.

"When Dry Season came, we experienced the worst drought in Pride Lands history. For nearly two months, we have seen the entire Pride Lands dry into an arid wasteland. It came to the point where the once lush soil became hard as stone. Within two months, nearly a quarter of the Pride Lands died from either dehydration, starvation or preying on each other. Many other Pride Landers ended up abandoning us for new lands. Many of us suffered severe losses because of that drought in both family members, friends, and homes. Jasiri here actually lost her entire clan when she came to us since the Outlands were hit hard by the drought." Beshte continued in a more depressed tone after each sentence.

"I eventually tested the soil for the king and queen and to my disappointment, the soil became so dry that there was essentially no hope in restoring the land to its former state. We knew that we had to leave to find new lands. After a day or two of voyaging outside the Pride lands, the royal family, the former guards and many other of our remaining Pride Landers with us could not find a piece of land suitable for all of us. We eventually bumped into this human who claimed to be some type of shaman for this village. At first, we were flabbergasted that he actually understood us trying to speak to him. We eventually followed him because he claimed to have a solution to all of our problems. He lead us to some secluded hut with a lot of space around it. He told us to wait while he grabbed something out of the hut-and that is when he took out those three canisters. Boy I will not forget those canisters, they were in these brown bottles that weren't exactly clear but weren't exactly opaque either. They were each the size of a lion cub and we saw they contained this liquid in it and we were not sure what it was." Rafiki stated, while his expression hardened to a more serious one.

"Along with those canisters, four or five other people came out with a handful of syringes while the shaman pulled out a syringe of his own. He claimed that he was going to help us with our situation. Since the lands we previously lived in were now uninhabitable, he claimed that his serum will help our bodies adjust to our new lives in "the human world", which we had no idea what was that a time. He explained that after he injects us with the serum, our bodies will go through a painful transition and we will become something that he called a "hybrid", which was supposedly half our own species and half human, which we had no idea what a human was at the time. We were nervous at the time but we ended up getting the shots injected into our bodies with particularly long needles. That was the first time any of us got a shot, and the pain was unbearable, like ten times worse than a bee sting. So it took us an hour to recover from that pain, but it was nothing compared to the second pain we felt later that day." Jasiri recalled.

"Later that night, we were all sleeping in the lands around the hut and many of us started to feel this stabbing pain in our backs, and I thought it would never end, we didn't get any sleep that night but it shrank down after each hour of that night. When morning came, we felt a weird sensation in our backs. Many of us went to the shaman's hut to talk about it and he just told us to try to stand up on our back legs. We were shocked at the proposition, but we then followed his directions and we were shocked to find that we could now stand on two feet instead of four...but that was just one of many biologically altering transitions that we went through. The next day, the larger animals became shorter in height while the smaller animals became larger in height. Two days later, we developed human appendages with our newly altered hands and feet. But a few days later, we woke up one morning and we walked to a nearby pond to get some water, we looked at our reflections to see that ...our appearances completely changed. Our noses were larger and dryer, most of our fur was gone except for the top of our heads, some lost their claws or hooves to their new fingernails, our tails were gone and don't get me started on the body changes. After we noticed each of the changes, we soon pieced together all the clues and realized...we were human now." Makini said.

"After noticing these changes, we were all frantically walking towards the shaman's hut and he was actually waiting for us already with six other humans that have trunks in front of them. After bombarding him with questions, he told us in a way we did became human,but that is only half of the 'hybrid' that he mentioned, he tells us that as hybrids, were are humans twelve hours a day, while at nights we will return to anthropomorphic versions of our native species. We were also told that we will have a longer life span because of our 'new human ages' to compliment how our bodies have transformed. There were two people who were assigned as young as age five, Jasiri, Beshte, Makini and others of that age group were assigned age seven, while Kiara, Kovu and a few others were assigned ages nine or ten since they all were transformed to human kids for some reason. The rest were assigned to varied adult human ages, some as young as eighteen and Rafiki was assigned the oldest at age forty five. For example I was assigned age thirty three at the time." Ma Tembo helped Makini continue from there.

"He then told us that we were that we were now going to be living in the human world, in which everyone below the age of eighteen will be going to school and the others will be trying to get jobs either in the village we will be going to live in or in towns near by. We were also told that we need to choose a last name to fill out legal documents because one name is no longer enough. He told us that we also needed to learn a new set of social protocols and skills, we have to refer to our new home by the name of the village in the Simiyu region of Tanzania. We were told to measure time through dates consisting of words and numbers. I still remember that he said 'You will begin your new lives as today's date is July 30th of 1998. You will be divided into groups to live with one of my six friends who own land and some of the larger houses around the village. They will also help you in learning basic skills for human society, such as reading, writing, and basic math. I wish you luck with your adjustment to human life.' I actually remembered asking him about what was in the serum, but all he said was its ingredients were capable of the genetic mutations associated with our transformations and that was all he was willing to say. That just developed more questions in my mind because I didn't know what genetic mutations were at the time." Beshte said.

"We were eventually assigned groups to live with each of his friends and in each of those trunks were a few sets of clothes that each of us had to own and wear since wearing no clothes in public was considered taboo to humans. We eventually followed our guides to their houses in the village and that was the last time we ever saw that shaman. It was honestly difficult at first but after some time, we started to adjust to our new lives as hybrids, though many of the villagers kept getting scared when we transformed at night. We lived in that village for around two years, but then our guides have told us about moving to the United States because they saw potential for us to enhance our human experience. We eventually applied for work and student visas, along with a few who participated in the green card lottery and each of us at different times left Tanzania for the United States. We were enrolled in schools or found work, the adults studied for their GEDs, and we soon went to college, some of us grad school after that. We lived separate lives from each other for nearly ten years, but through social media we eventually found each other and we started group chats." Rafiki said.

"About five years ago, before he became the museum president, Simba was telling us of how he got this job working in the Field Museum's marketing department and persuaded us to move to Chicago to get jobs in the museum, but some of us were still in grad school so we had to finish that before we could go there. Within two years of that, all of us eventually came to Chicago who had not already lived there and that is how we all ended up working at the museum. Well except for Rani, she worked here for a year but she left to become an elementary school teacher." Jasiri said while her expression started to lighten up a little bit.

I was just sitting there, trying to process what I just heard from them. I'm still having trouble believing them, it still sounded like something from a sci-fi fantasy novel. But I also remembered what Jasiri's paw felt like and how it felt the same texture as the paw of my parents' deceased dog, Kassie. It would have been impossible for a makeup artist to do that accurate of a job when I was in the bathroom for only five minutes, so I'm starting to accept what is going on in front of me.

"Okay, so let me guess this straight. So you were originally animals that lived in the wilderness of Tanzania in places called The Pride Lands, the Outlands and the Tree of Life. Beshte, you, Makini and your guard had to leave Tree of Life to the Pride Lands after some coup, but then the Pride Lands and Outlands were involved in some drought, which made the place uninhabitable. Then you ran into some guy claiming to be a shaman who can understand talking animals for some reason, gave you a serum that mutated your genomes into hybrid genomes to adjust to human life in a village and went to the United States two years later, and then you guys eventually came to the museum after Simba got a job there?" I asked. Now feeling slightly exhausted after saying all of that. They all began to look at each other.

"Well...yeah! Now when thinking about it we could just said that." Beshte said with a hint of realization.

"Maybe, but Edwin would be missing a lot of the subtext if we said that. So Edwin, does that help you understand our situation?" Makini asked.

"I think so, but it might take some time to process the entire thing." I slowly replied.

"Fair enough, it takes a while for many of the humans to really understand us when we tell them this story." Rafiki replied.

"I am so sorry that I acted so unprofessional out there in front of all of those people and I can totally understand if you want to suspend me or even fire me for my behavior." I said in a guilty tone.

All of the sudden Ma Tembo just went up towards me and placed her hand...which some parts resembled a hoof ...on my shoulder and looked directly in my eyes.

"Edwin...why in the world would you think that we would fire you over this? You did nothing wrong, sure it might have been a little bit of an excessive reaction, but practically all the humans we know have reacted in a similar way once they saw us transform for the first time. But trust me, some people had worse reactions, so don't feel bad about ?" Ma Tembo said in a much more calming tone.

"Okay, but I do have a question, why didn't Pete transform when we were at the gala?" I asked in a curious tone.

"Because Pete is not a hybrid. He's human just like you; he found out a few months ago, as you knew he originally came from California." Makini said.

"Oh okay and another question.." I said as I began to try to move my hand that was handcuffed to the wall, "Can you please take this handcuff off my wrist?...it's starting to feel numb." I asked.

"Oh yeah! Sorry about that." Beshte said as he took his key ring out and walked towards me. He placed a small silver key into the keyhole and within five seconds, I heard a click and I freed my hand from the cuff while Beshte took the handcuffs and placed them in his belt.

"Thanks, and I promise that I won't tell anyone." I said while standing from the couch.

"Thanks for the notion, though many people actually already know and unfortunately there have been times where we have been tested by a few labs, most of their tests ended up inconclusive." Makini said in a more depressed tone.

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that, but trust me, I'm not one of those scientists who put a bonus above ethical concerns, that's kind of why I left that pharmaceutical company that I previously worked for." I said while I was taking out my phone to check the time.

"Woah, 10:45, it's pretty late, well thanks for telling me that story, I wish I could stay longer, but I need to find an Uber that could bring me home." I said while trying to open my Uber app.

"An Uber? Don't you have a car?" Ma Tembo asked me in a curious tone.

"Oh yeah, I do but it's in the shop right now because it had some engine problems, but it won't be ready until tomorrow so I still need a ride home." I said while pressing on the app on my phone.

"I can drive you home, my car is parked right outside in the lot." Jasiri offered.

"Jasiri I appreciate the offer but I don't want to be a burden on you in-" I replied until Jasiri interrupted me.

"Oh no, I insist. It's the least I can do for not telling you over the course of knowing each other." She replied in a humorous tone. Knowing what I know of Jasiri over the past few weeks, she will not give up until I say yes. I let out a light sigh of defeat.

"Alright, I'll come with you. Thanks for the offer." I said, while turning my head towards the rest of them.

"I'll see you guys Monday and I hope you have a good weekend!" I said.

"Likewise to you Edwin!" Ma Tembo replied.

"I definitely will, I met someone on CraigsList who said that they will give me a hundred dollars just for washing their windows." Rafiki said. His response caused me to turn my head back towards him as I was about to leave.

"Okay, but you probably want to rethink that Rafiki, there are some weirdos on CraigsList." I tried to warn him but his expression remains unchanged.

"Oh don't worry, I'll be fine." Rafiki said. After that he just started to laugh for no particular reason.

"Okay...See you later." I replied in an awkward tone, just slowly stepping out of the office. I then turned towards Jasiri.

"Okay, lead the way Jasiri." I lightly said. She just smiled at me and continued to walk into the hallway while I followed next to her.

We have seen that most of the people have left already and it is mostly just cleaning staff that are still here. We walked through the hallway in which I ran through just hours ago and we went out the glass doors to the parking lot. We then approached a light gray sedan, and Jasiri took a device from her bag, which she used to unlock the doors to her car. I got in the passenger seat and buckled my seat belt. I noticed that her car had a lilac smell in it...or is it lavender? She then took her phone out and she tapped her screen a couple of times.

"Hey Edwin, can you give me your address so that I'm going the right way?" She asked me. So I told her my address and she typed it in her Google Maps app.

"Okay, but before I start, let me just put something in the back seat." She said. When she got up and took off her shoes for some reason and threw the heels she was wearing in the backseat and she brought a pair of flats to the front seat and started to put them on. While she was doing that I got to see the claws and parts of the paws on her feet. They seemed to have a similar shape to human fee, except they are covered in greyish fur, with black claws at the end of each toe, and black paw patterns, similar to the ones at on her hands.

"I'm sorry for the delay, I just couldn't stand wearing those heels for any longer today. I'm not sure how human women or the others wear these hours at a time, but all I know is that those shoes were not made for hyena feet." Jasiri said, letting out a slight laugh as she started her engine.

"No problem, I can understand. Sometimes I feel the same way about ties. I either tie it too tight or too loose, so either way I can't win." I said to try to lighten the mood as she began to drive.

"Sometimes, you humans are so weird, no offense." Jasiri said in a joking tone.

"Please, people have been calling me weird since kindergarten. I'm immune to it." I replied, letting out a laugh of my own.

"Yeah, some of the humans I've known called me weird, and other names but I'll explain that to you later." She replied.

"You can trust me that I'm not one of those humans." I replied, trying to reassure her that she can trust me.

The rest of the drive was pretty quiet from there, I just got distracted looking at the street lights that we pass by while Jasiri's car radio was playing in the background. As we pass by the Loop area of downtown, I still see that many people are still trying to hit as many clubs as they can, and I swore that I saw some woman in a bedazzled puke into their purse. Jasiri seemed to be more focused on the road. Though I think I got a laugh when I mentioned the lady and the purse.

We eventually made it to my neighborhood and I showed Jasiri where to pullover near my apartment building. She looked at the tan bricks of the building and the area surrounding the building.

"You were right Edwin, you do have quite the commute to work. So which floor do you live in?" She asked.

"Oh, I live on the third floor. Though there is an elevator, the stairs are much faster. Well thanks for the ride and I appreciate that you trust me to tell me about your…transformations. We should hang out more often." I replied as I began to open the passenger door.

"You're welcome and I agree, we definitely need to hang out more. See you later!" Jasiri said as I exited her car.

"See ya Jasiri!" I replied before gently closing her passenger door.

As I buzzed in with my fob to get in the building, I heard Jasiri's car slowly drive away and after five seconds, the car was gone. I walked up the stairs until I reached my apartment. Within five minutes, I took off the formal clothes that I was wearing, put on more comfortable clothes and headed straight to bed.

It might take me some time to process what I have learned earlier tonight about the transformations. Exactly how many of my colleagues or museum employees are hybrids? What were their lives like before coming to Chicago? What were their lives like in these Pride Lands or Outlands? How much did they lose from the drought?

Even when it was a little weird to see their anthropomorphic animal forms, they were still pretty nice people. Also, despite looking different at night, I have to say...Jasiri still looks pretty sexy as a hyena.


	12. Chapter 12: What Next?

I decided to sleep a little late after the events that went on last night. I was still trying to process that there are humans with hybrid DNA of other species, or is it animals whose DNA was partially mutated to human? But either way, it still perplexed me of how this came to be.

When I was a kid, there were cartoons animals that had human-like qualities and thoughts, but I never would have imagined that those actually existed in real-life...until last night.

So I woke up at around seven or seven fifteen this morning, I just took a hot shower to try to use the running water to calm my nerves. At one point, I raised the temperature a little bit to try to wake myself up. Even when part of me still debated whether it was some kind of hallucination or something but I remember how Jasiri's paws and fur felt and it was too real to be a hallucination or prosthetic makeup.

After I put on some clothes, I decided to try to distract myself with a little music. So I went to my bedroom closet and I took out the large black plastic case that contained my double bass. When I carried the case, I suddenly remembered how heavy it was. It gave me memories back to when I was in high school and how I used to lug this thing to orchestra class and I used to get a lot of looks when I brought it to and from school on the Red Line. But to an extent, I guess I can understand them...you try not looking at a high school student sitting next to a large case while they try to finish their AP Bio homework on the train.

Anyway, I took out the instrument against the wall while I took out an old standee and some old sheet music, After placing the sheet music on the standee, I grabbed the bass, placed it in front of me and I grabbed my bow as I began to play the instrument.

I began to play the bass continuously, playing piece after piece in the sheet music. I haven't really got this intense with my bass since I was in high school or college. I played as if there was nobody around, just a lone geneticist playing the bass alone...until I heard a knock on the door.

I heard the knock about two hours after I started playing, so when I heard it, I placed my bow down, and walked towards the door.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"This is Charles, Charles Pariseau." The voice said. I began to become a little nervous considering that Mr. Pariseau is also my landlord.

I opened the door to see that Mr. Pariseau was standing in front of me. He looked pretty much the same as I saw him last time, with noticeable balding, while most of the remaining hair in the back of his head was grey with a few beige and tan strands, but that's normal for a guy in his mid-sixties. He was wearing a green short-sleeve shirt with a collar, black pants and brown shoes. He was also wearing a small pair of glasses with gold rims.

"Hello, Mr. Pariseau, how's life?" I said trying to make small talk.

"Well, my kids haven't spoken to me in five years, my wife left me for some hot-shot doctor and I'm stuck running this damn apartment building seven days a week, so nothing new." He said in an irritable tone.

"Okaay… What brings you here? Did something happen with my rent check?" I asked.

"No this has nothing to do with the check. I'm here because Ms. Abel from downstairs complained about music from your apartment because it's driving her dogs crazy. So can you please quiet down the music so that I don't have to report you for a noise complaint. Got it?" Mr. Pariseau asked quite irritatedly.

"Okay, sure no problem." I replied, while backing off a little bit.

"Good, just don't do anything that would cause me to come to your apartment again. So now excuse me, just let me watch my TV shows without any intrusions." Mr. Pariseau then said while walking towards the stairwell.

"Okaay..See you later. I guess." I said while I closed the door.

"Man, what an asshole." I whispered to myself. I get that Mr. Pariseau can be fastidious, but sometimes he takes it a little far. I then looked at the time on my phone and it is 10:30, so I thought that a jog could also be a good distraction from my thoughts.

I just changed into my black fitness shirt and some grey shorts on, placed my phone, keys, wallet and Ventra card in my pocket. I tied my hair into a ponytail as I usually do in a jog, and I just left, shutting the door behind me.

I decided that instead of taking the Blue Line to a jogging destination downtown, I'm just going to jog all the way there. So I left my apartment building, jogged down Milwaukee Avenue until I turned left on Fullerton. I jogged along Fullerton, crossing the bridge over the Chicago River and after jogging for fifteen minutes, I ended up near the North Pond in Lincoln Park. At some point, I just sat at the nearest park bench available, because I was insanely tired after jogging four miles.

I decided to check my phone for any e-mails and stuff. Other than the usually advertisement stuff and then I noticed that I have 10 unread text messages so I decided to check those out.

Okay, so I see that the first three are from my mother, let me see what said:

_-Hi sweetie, how's it going? How's work at the museum going?_

_-My day has been great, I've met a new friend at the farmer's market and we have just talked for hours and hours._

_-I also talked with your cousin Margaretta, she and her family got this new golden retriever, I believed that she named them Gek, I'm not sure why but Margaretta has always been a bit eccentric._

As I read the texts, I just laughed and sighed a little. My mom always seems to want to talk about everything that goes on in her day whenever she texts me. It's actually nice because compared to my other family members, I communicate with her a lot. I decided to reply back to her message:

-_Hi Mom, everything is fine, I'm just going for a jog. Work is going great! It's nice to hear about your new friend and yeah Margaretta has always been the creative one! But she did end up to Julliard for undergrad on a full scholarship, so I guess it counted for something_

I then went to look at some of the other texts. I saw that one is from my friend Kendall, with whom I went to high school with.

-_Hey Edwin, it's been a while! How have you been? Did you receive the email of our ten year reunion? I can't wait to see you there! Details are in the email on location and times._

I decided to reply back with:

-_Hi Kendall, I received the email and I can't wait to see you too!_

I decided to check my emails after that and I actually did receive the high school reunion email, I just wanted to put the date and time on my phone as a reminder. I opened the email from two days ago, which said:

_Hello Fellow Alum,_

_I would like to announce that in one month, the Hemingway College Prep High School Alumni Association is organizing the 10 year reunion of the Class of 2009. Press on the link below to RSVP. The reunion will be on August 10 from 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM, you can drop by anytime at the ballroom of Oak Trail Hotel at the corner of Clark and Menomonee. See you there!_

_Clara Moy, Class of 2009,_

_President of HCPHS Alumni Association_

I copied and pasted the date time and location to a page in the Reminders App in my phone.I then decided to look at some of the remaining 6 unread texts. They are all from the gang from the museum; they are probably wondering about last night.

-_Hey Edwin, it's Makini, I'm just hoping that you are alright. I know our origins may seem difficult to believe but trust me it is all true._

_-I hope your weekend is going well and I also want to let you know that I do not hold anything against you for your reaction last night, Pete reacted in a similar way when he first found out. Anyway, have a good weekend! (smiley face emoji)_

I just simply replied with, "Hi Makini, I'm alright, thank you. I'm still trying to process it a little bit but I'm starting to understand it."

After replying to Makini, I looked to see who else texted me:

-_Hey Edwin, this is Beshte, just wondering how you are doing? I hope you are doing alright, we should definitely find a time to talk about any questions you may still have about the whole hybrid thing._

It was nice to see that many of my friends at the museum are not judging me for my behavior last night. Though I am not sure exactly how to approach the subject in later conversations. I just simply replied,

-_Hey Beshte! I'm fine, I'm just out for a jog, how about you? I definitely think we should talk more often. So what have you been up to recently?_

After sending that text, I went to see the other three messages that are still left to read. I saw that there were two from Bupu and one from Jasiri. Since his came earlier, I decided to read Bupu's first.

-_Hello Edwin, I hope everything is going well for you. Sorry that we didn't tell you about us being hybrids and all that. Also, did you left a white pocket square at the gala last night? Because I found it on the floor when I left._

_-Never mind, found a label, it's Pete's, I'll return it to him Monday._

I think that I'm just going to reply to that later and just move on to Jasiri's text.

-_Hi Edwin, How's it going? I know that it's a little hard to believe our story at first, but I am more than willing to answer questions that you might still have about what we told you last night. I hope that everything is going alright with you this weekend. Just curious, are you up for a jog next weekend?_

I was delighted to hear from her again, let's just hope things won't be awkward with us either in or outside of work. Sure, I'm afraid of things getting awkward with my friends and colleagues at the museum, but the last thing I want is for thing between Jasiri and I to get awkward. I'm not sure why but since we first met, I can't stop thinking about her in one way or another. Sure, she is attractive even in her hyena state, but I don't really know a lot about her and her life in these Outlands and Pride Lands they mentioned. Perhaps a jog would be a good opportunity to get to know each other more. So I looked at my phone and began to type

-_Hey Jasiri, I'm doing well. I would love to do a jog with you next weekend. Want to go south bound by Millennium Park or Museum Campus, or do you want to go northbound towards Montrose Beach? I'm fine with either and I also want to bring some refreshments along because I seriously owe you for the ride last night._

After sending the text, I continued to jog towards through the park towards the lake. I soon arrived at one of those smaller beaches right next to North Avenue Beach. My feet were developing blisters from jogging, so I decided to take my shoes and socks off to cool my feet in the water. It felt pretty refreshing to get a chance to cool down, but to be honest I've always liked being near the lake, ever since I was a kid, so it's nothing new to me, but still, it feels nice.

I've waded my feet in the water for like ten minutes until I decided to get out and put my socks and sneakers back on. I began to walk back towards the park. While walking through the park, I seem to be approaching a couple on a bench seeming to be talking to each other and they actually looked kind of familiar.…

Oh wait a minute...I met them at the gala last night. The woman is Kiara, the museum president's daughter who's in the General Council and the guy with her is Kovu, her husband from the artifact conservation lab...who was also the brown lion I saw in the bathroom at that time. Also based on Makini's story from last night, they allegedly helped united two prides and they were next in line to be king and queen of the Pride Lands.

I didn't want to risk getting into an awkward conversation with them, so I decided to slowly walk past around their bench in a way so that they won't notice. So far it seems to be going well, they seem to be busy snuggling with each other to notice,but then ...Da-Dun

The text tone went off on my phone, I guess I forgot to put my phone on vibrate.

"Damn!" I whispered to myself. I then took out my phone to see who it is. It's from Jasiri.

-_I think that we should go near Montrose Beach, I like the nature scenery of the area and I think it has some more privacy for us to talk when we get tired. Does 10 AM on Saturday sound okay for you?_

I then tried to reply as fast as I could:

-_That sounds great! I'll see you then!_

I began to continue to walk- until I heard:

"Hey...wait? Aren't you that new guy from the genetics lab at the museum?" a female voice said. I turned around to see that Kiara and Kovu were both looking towards me...busted!

"Thanks a lot Jasiri" I sarcastically thought to myself, then turning my head back towards them. "Hi there, and yeah, I am from the genetics lab." I replied, trying to be as nonchalant as possible.

"Oh yeah, I remember you! I'm sorry to hear about the tranquilizer gun when you saw our transformation to our native species states. I guess it must have shocked you seeing a bunch of lions and other animals in the and your research on lichen DNA and environmental conditions seemed pretty interesting." Kovu then said.

"It's okay, Jasiri, Ma Tembo and a few others explained your situation to me about the Pride Lands, Outlands, Tree of Life and what not. I'm sorry about that drought around twenty years ago." I said.

"It's alright, sometimes it can be a little painful to recall but it was over twenty years ago and we have adjusted to the human world, even with the transition between human and two-legged lions everyday and night." Kiara said.

"Okay, that's nice to hear. But I do have two questions for you, A. Do you know why Rafiki has a tranquilizer gun? And B.) Has he always been...unique?" I asked them. These questions seemed to have provoked some light laughter from them.

"Sure, the tranquilizer gun I think he said he got it from Amazon for when his tea can't calm people down since people kept getting hurt by hitting them with his cane like he did in the Pride Lands. For the second question, if you meant 'has he always been crazy', then yes...he has always been like that, even in the Pride Lands." Kiara said while gently shaking her head as if she recalled something.

"It's true, in one of the first times Kiara and I hung out, he made himself present by sticking his finger in my nose, then swung on some vines and force-fed us this "love fruit" called Upendi." Kovu replied. After that, I laughed while I tried to imagine the events he just told me

"Damn! He really did sound crazy. I once had an uncle who believed that wearing mismatched socks everyday would increase his chances of a high Christmas bonus, but Rafiki certainly would have uncle Lewis have a run for his money. Also, is this 'upendi fruit', what was so special about it, did it have some kind of hallucinogen or is it like weed and just releases a pleasure sensation by interacting with dopamine neuroreceptors?" I asked. Which just lead them to stare at each other with awkward looks for some reason.

"Oh, well you see, you can say that in the Pride Lands, the upendi fruit is somewhat symbolic because in Swahili, the word upendi means love and it is commonly shared between two lovers." Kiara said.

"Also, I didn't think it had any hallucinogens in it, but I do remember seeing stuff when I first had it. So, it was not exactly like weed, but I definitely remember feeling a pleasure sensation from upendi." Kovu said.

"Oh okay, I guess I can understand that. Also, sorry if I'm changing the subject but at the gala, but the ballroom was actually not the first transformation I saw that night. I was in the men's room and I was about to go wash my hands when Kovu, I think I saw you in your lion form that night. But since you were the only transformation I saw at that time, I initially thought I was just seeing things from working all week." I said.

"Oh, that creaking was from your stall door? I thought it was from when I turned the sink knob." Kovu said in a casual tone.

"Well, it's been nice meeting up with you again but I have a bus to catch to go back to my place. See you later." I said while looking back towards my the main pathway.

"See you later Edwin! Perhaps we might bump into each other on Monday, a few of the conservation labs are close to the genetics lab and I assist in a couple of the labs on that floor in certain projects." Kovu replied.

The couple headed back towards the bench they were sitting while I headed to a bus stop somewhere in the park.

It was nice to see that many of the people from the museum that I have encountered so far, do not hold anything against me for my reaction last night of finding out about their hybrid states...but on the other hand, it seems a little too convenient as if there is more to the story. Even when I have not been told the specifics of their situation, sometimes I feel as if they are either hiding something from me or if their experiences in the drought or coup were so traumatic that they don't want to talk about it with anyone.

When the bus arrived, I got on, swiped my Ventra Card on the little placard and I just sat down wondering what exactly will come next because I am curious of some certain aspects of their lives before they became hybrids, but I don't want to ask in a way that will offend them or accidentally trigger a traumatic memory for them. Perhaps I can start with general questions about differences between their lives in the Pride Lands compared to life among humans, but whether they were a hyena, lion, hippo or what not, it would not really change what I think of them, even when I might get skeptical at times.


	13. Chapter 13: The Weekday After

**Author's** **Note:** I apologize for the delay, but here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy.

BEEP …. BEEP…. BEEP ...BEEP BEEP... BEEP…. BEEP... BEEP... BEEP

I look at my alarm, it is five in the morning, so I continued my usual morning routine on this Monday morning. It was the first time back to work since the gala Friday night and discovering about some of my colleagues being hybrids. ...Oh man! I also just remembered the scene I caused that night. Man, I am going to get whispers in the lab and the rest of the museum today. Anyway, I gathered my things and I headed to catch the Blue Line to work.

Perhaps the commute could be helpful to clear my head, it's a warm July afternoon and there was a slight breeze outside. I arrive to see the usual Monday morning crowds on the Blue Line. Got off a stop to transfer onto the Red Line and then got off at the Roosevelt stop to walk to the museum. I walked up the steps and opened the glassdoor to go through the line to scan in my ID. I then approached the security desk to scan my ID and I noticed that there was a woman with blue eyes and black hair in a bun, right in the the desk Beshte usually works on Monday mornings. I guess he decided to take a different shift today or he could be out sick or something.

So I approached the desk and gave her my ID, and tried to start a conversation with her.

"Hi, I'm Edwin, I work in the genetics lab and I'm one of the newer-" I was saying until the woman at the desk interrupted me.

"Oh yeah, I know who you are. You're the guy who freaked out the gala last night, and Rafiki had to 'calm you down'. Are you feeling alright?" The woman asked.

"Oh I'm fine, though there is still some things that I need to process about the overall situation. Oh I forgot what is your name?" I replied.

"Oh..yeah, I'm Anga. I work security here, Beshte usually take the desk but today he is in the lower floor to cover someone who's out sick." She replied.

"Hi Anga, nice to meet you, hope you have a good day." I said as she was giving me my ID back.

"You too." She replied as I walked past the desk.

I walked across the marble floor and went up the stairs to walk into the lab. I went to my office just to put my things ready for the research I'm going to do today. As I walked into the lab, I saw that Ma Tembo, in her human form, was already here and was just taking out some glassware from the cabinets. I was on my way to grab some loading buffer for an SDS-PAGE I am going to do today, but then I stopped in my tracks when I heard Ma Tembo calling me.

"Oh Hi Edwin, how are you today? Are you feeling any better?" She asked.

"Hey Ma Tembo, I'm good. I'm still trying to process a few things but I think your story is starting to settle in my mind. How about you, how has your weekend been?" I said, trying to be a little more nonchalant.

"Well it has been fine, I just did a couple of personal errands, and I went with my neighbors to this new restaurant they saw advertisements for, but it wasn't enjoyable since many people in the restaurant kept staring at me when I transformed into my elephant hybrid form that night. Also, their food was actually quite bland compared to what I was expecting. But we just came back to their apartment and just socialized for a bit." Ma Tembo replied.

"Okay, that's cool, but sorry to hear about the restaurant-thing. I wish I could say that the human world has progressed into a judgement and bias-free era, but unfortunately I see proof everyday of how that vision of a bias-free era is still far away. Even I have some stuff I still need to work on, but I guess you can say that everyone has flaws in one way or another." I said. Ma Tembo was starting to clean the glassware at this point at a sink, rinsing them with deionized water.

"It's okay, I've been used to these kinds of reactions and behaviors for over twenty years in the human world, but I don't hold anything against you for the actions of some humans. But bias was not something I have only seen in humans, even before the drought, there were numerous encounters of bias within the Pride Lands. For example, the museum President's son-in-law, Kovu, and some of his pride mates from the Outlands encountered extreme prejudice from the Pride Landers once the two prides merged, mostly because Kovu had a resemblance of the evil king Scar that we mentioned to you earlier. Also, I regret to say that I have contributed to bias myself, when Makuu from the fossil lab was a full crocodile, he was learning to get the hang of being leader of the Pride Lands's crocodile float. Even when he was maturing as a leader, I still only saw him as an immature crocodile who caused nothing but trouble, but as I got to know him, I saw him as a growing leader who is able to make mature decisions. Though he can still be stubborn at times, so yeah, even when we still miss the Pride Lands at times, it was not exactly this immaculate society, that's just impossible." Ma Tembo said as she finished the glassware, I decided to help her out by drying the ones she already rinsed.

"Yeah, bias can be difficult sometimes. I have friends who have experienced forms of bias because of their gender, race, sexual orientation and ethnicity. It's also unfortunate to see how many decades old stereotypes are still propagated in media today." I replied.

"Yes, it's very unfortunate, there are some cases I wonder how the human race is still able to exist when many of you guys can be so stubbornly divisive, no offense." She replied back while giving me a beaker.

"None taken, and sometimes it surprises me too." I said while drying off that beaker with a paper towel. She then turned her head towards me.

"I'm just wondering, I am preparing some lab stations for the interns , can you please help me out?" She asked.

"Sure no problem, what can I do for you?" I replied.

"Well for starters, you can help me set the dried beakers to the interns section of the lab back there." She said while pointing towards a back section of the lab.

"Okay, no problem." I said. I threw away the paper towel and brought the beakers to the the back lab area where the interns usually conduct their tasks of the day. I see there were also some microcentrifuge tubes and a thermal cycler so I guess the interns are helping us out by conducting PCR tests.

When I was walking back to the usual lab area and Ma Tembo asked me if I could get a box of micropipette tips to also place in the intern's area. By the time I got back I saw that Bupu, also back in human form, just came in. When I was about to get some the cell lysate in the cabinet.

"Hello Edwin, how are you doing? Are you feeling better after Friday?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine Bupu, Ma Tembo and a few of the others helped explained the who Pride Lands transformation thing to me. There are still some things that I still might need to process a few things but I'm starting to get the hang of it now." I replied.

"Good, nice to hear that you are feeling better!" Bupu said walking towards the supply closet.

As I passed by him, I then saw the animal figurines by the lab stations again. As I was looking at the figurines at most of my colleagues' stations, I realized that the animals in the figurines...were also the animals they transformed to last night, except for Pete, he didn't have one. I turned to ma Tembo who was towards my left.

"Hey Ma Tembo, just out of curiosity, where did you guys get these animal figurines? Did Pete gave you those as a gift or did you guys buy them somewhere?" I asked.

"Oh those were not bought, Vuruga actually made those in one of the pottery classes she takes outside of work. She gave them to us give help give us a reminder of what we used to look like and also bring back memories of home. Even when Pete never received one, Vuruga made up by giving him a mug so he didn't feel left out. She gave us those before you started working here." Ma Tembo replied back.

"Okay, that's cool." This also made me think back to the paintings that were up by Ma Tembo's office, the ones that I first noticed in my interview. Perhaps they were painted for the same purpose. But before I do that, I got to get started on the SDS-PAGE analysis of my lichen study.

After four or five hours of conducting SDS-PAGE on lichen protein samples, I was about to go on my lunch break. I grabbed my lunch from my office and I was heading towards the exit when I saw the paintings again. There was one which had an African savannah setting with green grass, a few trees and the L-shaped rock formation. But I also saw a painting with a similar background but with a large tree in the center. This particular tree had a particularly wide trunk and roots, which stretched a long distance from the trunk. Another painting next to it that pictured this rocky area, in which the only sign of life was a small pond, a few wilting plants and what looked like vultures in the sky.

I saw Makini, Vuruga, Pete and Bupu were walking down the hallway as they usually do when we head to the cafe. The soon stopped when they saw me looking at the paintings.

"Hey Edwin, are you going to join us for lunch at the cafe?" Makini asked. I turned my head towards the group.

"Oh Hey Makini. Yeah I am, I guess I got distracted looking at these paintings, they are really detailed. I never would have guessed Rafiki from human resources was such a gifted artist...Oh not that I assumed that he would be terrible, it's just that he never discussed it much out of the times I met him." I replied.

"Oh no it's fine, we all never would have expected some of Rafiki's hidden talents. But on the other hand, he was the Mjuzi of the Pride Lands." Makini said.

"Wait, a Mjuzi? Are you and Rafiki related because why would he be called your last name? I thought he said he was a shaman." I said in a confused tone while Makini started to laugh a little.

"Oh no, we are not related, though I wish we were. A Mjuzi is a shaman, who was also the king and queen's advisor, as well as the kingdom's healer, historian, cultural adviser and spiritual adviser. When we became half-human and half of our native animal, we chose our last names mostly based on the Swahili word for the animals we were, but some of us chose names based on the places we came from or a special title. I chose Mjuzi as my last name because I was a Mjuzi at the Tree of Life and I was a Mjuzi in-training in the Pride Lands under Rafiki's teachings. If you are curious, Rafiki chose the last name Mwongozo because it is the Swahili word for guide, which he was and still is to many of us here." Makini replied.

"Okay, that's actually quite interesting. Actually, I was curious.." I was walking towards the painting with the L-shaped rock formation. "Is this painting supposed to be of the Pride Lands?" I asked them. All of them, except for Pete nodded.

"Yeah, this was the Pride Lands before the drought. I still remember the lush grasslands, the clear water springs, the warm sun soothing our fur and skin." Bupu said, seeming to drift away in recalling this memory.

"Living a life where the only thing necessary was to live and avoid a predator. No bills to pay, no forms to fill out, and none of the stressors that we now carry. But that was like twenty years ago and once we got used to it, the human world might have a few downsides but it could have been worse, we could have died in the drought." Vuruga said, but started to have a pensive expression when she mentioned the drought.

"Boy, life in the Pride Lands sounded nice." I said.

"Oh it was, though we did have to live to survive each day, but that's just life, even in the human world." Makini said.

"That's true…" I said while walking towards the painting of the wide tree, turning my head towards Makini. "Hey Makini, I'm guessing that this painting is the Tree of Life that you told me about?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, when one came to it, they can see it from a hundred feet away. But it was worth it arriving after the trip I took there with the former Lion Guard. Sometimes I still think of the Tree of Life, but when I occasionally contact Kion's ex mate, Rani, she still seems to carry some level of guilt for her brother's death, even when she knows her uncle killed him. But I think she might have actually left the museum because...well I guess she just wanted to work more with kids. As I said, she used to work in the department that usually assisted with field trips and occasionally worked in the Crowne Play Lab, but she also has a degree in education, so I guess she wanted to apply it teaching first grade at some elementary school in the Morgan Park neighborhood." Makini said starting to look depressed as she is saying this, I started to get a little concern.

"Makini, are you okay?" I asked.

"Oh I'm fine, I guess sometimes I still miss having Rani in the museum, she is someone I used to talk to frequently, but no I'm lucky to get a text from her once a month. I guess being a teacher really gets her occupied." Makini said.

"I guess, it can be difficult to manage an entire classroom of thirty six-to-seven year olds." I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Perhaps, I definitely know that I would have difficulties, I barely get some of our interns to listen to a word I say, Ma Tembo always has to vouch for me in that department." Makini said while developing a small laugh.

I then began to look towards the painting of the arid field with the small pond. Intensely focused on it thinking that this must have been quite a drought to recall painting this.

"Is this supposed to be the Pride Lands during the drought?" I asked them, turning my head towards them.

"Oh actually no, that is actually the Outlands before the drought. It was pretty much a desert before the drought, but when it came, it became practically uninhabitable." Vuruga replied. I was kind of surprised to hear this because, wasn't that where Jasiri told me where she lived?

"Wait a minute, didn't a few people from the museum came from the Outlands like Jasiri and that Kovu guy?" I asked and they all just nodded their heads.

"Yeah, they were initially exiled for the misdeeds of others, but we eventually let them in the Pride Lands, though Jasiri wanted to stay to try to make it a better place, but despite that, it was still a wretched place to live. The drought essentially destroyed all of those hopes for her." Bupu said.

"Oh my...that sounds terrible. I'm sorry to hear that." I replied.

"It's fine, we have all experienced hardships during the drought but it was over twenty years ago...we are over it and we are fine. Let's just go to lunch and talk about something else." Vuruga said in a slightly agitated tone.

"Okaay…. Let's go then." I said in a slightly suspicious tone. Other that light suspicion of that abrupt end, I just followed the group to the cafe downstairs. When we go there, I had to watch their bags again since I brought my own lunch while they are buying their lunches at the cafe.

I just began to look around to see that everything seems to be nothing out of the ordinary...except for the people that were suddenly staring at me. I saw the two women from the information desk; the one whose name I think is Muhimu just stared at me while her friend was whispering into her ear. The security guard named Bunga just pointed towards me while whispering something to the guy next to him. I became irritated so I just decided to ignore them to avoid making a bigger fool of myself than I did Friday night.

I then started to her footsteps thinking that it was just my colleagues returning from their lunch orders, but it was actually just Jasiri back in her human form, and she was approaching the table I was sitting in.

"Hey Edwin, how's it going? Feeling any better this week?" She said while starting to sitting in the seat across from me.

"Oh hi Jasiri! I'm doing well, though I am still curious about regarding some of the things from what you guys told me Friday night. Are you still up for that jog on Saturday?" I said, still feeling a little bit nervous and awkward at the same time.

"Oh yeah definitely, we can meet at the same place as last time. Perhaps we can even stop by...uh Edwin, are you okay, you seem to be sweating?" Jasiri said.

"Oh yeah I'm fine, I'm just feeling a little hot in this jacket." I said while taking off the sweatshirt I was wearing while wiping the sweat off my head. "So what were you saying again about stopping somewhere?" I asked, she gave out a light laugh in response.

"Oh I was just suggesting that we stop by this ice cream parlor nearby, I heard about it from a friend and they are supposed to be really good." She replied.

Even when I still felt awkward about the events from Friday night, there was another unknown in my life that was making me have conflicted emotions...my feelings for Jasiri.

I've been thinking of her since we first met and I want to ask her out but I've never had the guts to do it. Sure, even when the hyena-hybrid-transformation-thing might have shocked me at first, but I just can't help but feel comfortable around Jasiri, even when we are not doing anything. Since the two of us are alone, perhaps…

"Hey Jasiri, I was thinking-" I was about to say before I heard footsteps and a familiar voice callout "Hey guys! How's it going?"

When I that voice called out, I thought to myself "_Damn! I was so close!"_

I turned around to see it was just Beshte and Makuu coming to our table, and my colleagues we heading over with their lunch orders.

"Oh hey Beshte. I'm fine, Jasiri and I were just chatting about jogging and this ice cream parlor one of her friends recommended." I said as all the others were sitting down.

"Oh that's cool. I this one time when I was about age 13, human years old, and this person on a park bench next to me spilled ice cream on my shoulder and some of it got into my mouth. That was the first time I ever tasted ice cream and I enjoyed it so much that I licked the spill from my shoulder. I ended up getting a bunch of weird looks from strangers that day." Makini said. I thought that along with those strangers fifteen years ago, she was also getting some strange looks from some of us right now.

"Okaaay?...So Edwin, did you do anything over the weekend?" Vuruga said, seeming to rush to change the subject away from Makini's ice cream story.

"Oh nothing much, I just went for a long walk, I actually stopped near North Avenue Beach at that point, and funny thing I actually bumped into the museum president's daughter, Kiara, and her husband Kovu. We had a light conversation and at one point they brought up this fruit called "upendi" that they said grew in the Pride Lands, do any of you know what that is?"I said in an inquisitive tone.

"Oh yes, Rafiki used to work with Upendi fruit all of the time when he was the royal Mjuzi. It was usually used to symbolize the budding love between two potential lovers, though there were times where he got a little carried away with it." Makini said.

"Yeah, he pretty much gets carried away with everything he does. He even does odd jobs for people on CraigsList, speaking of, I think he washed somebody's windows over the weekend." Beshte asked.

"Oh yeah, he told me that while he was washing the windows, the guy that hired him started to do zumba with their pet goat and offered Rafiki to join in when he finished, and that's not even the part I found surprising, what I found surprising was that Rafiki accepted the offer." Makini recalled and many of us just started to laugh.

"You have to be kidding! You're really telling us that he accepted to do zumba with some random guy and his goat?" I said still laughing between parts of what I said.

"Yeah it's all true! I'm still in shock. Oh Edwin, I remember that you said that you were having car issues this past week?" Makini asked.

"Yes I did, I had to get problems with my engine fixed, but I nearly had a heart attack when I received the bill. Two-hundred and seventy-five dollars, right out of my pocket, even when I don't know anything about cars, I feel that I got ripped off." I said.

"Ooh, that sucks Edwin." Jasiri said.

"Yeah, but I can totally understand where you are coming from. Yesterday, I had to pay a hundred and fifty dollars to have my backseat cleaned after _somebody_ threw up all over my back seat." Beshte said while turning his head towards Makuu after "somebody". Makuu turned towards Beshte with an irritated expression on his face.

"For the third time, I said I was sorry!" Makuu said, practically yelling.

"I know, but sorry doesn't get the smell out of my car." Beshte replied.

"Wait, what exactly happened for Makuu to throw up in your car?" Bupu asked.

"Well, it was when I went to hang out with my old army buddy, and remember how Makuu was so upset with his interns that he wanted to join the two of us, well eventually he did take the offer and I gave him the address of the bar-" Beshte said before Makuu interrupted him.

"I can take it from here Beshte. So any way, after Beshte texted me the address of the bar and I eventually took an Uber to the bar-" Makuu said and he began to turn his head towards me.

"Oh and before you ask, yes I transformed into my crocodile form and yes, Beshte's friend knows about our story so he is used to seeing Beshte in his hippo form, so that might get any transformation-related questions out of the way, Edwin." Makuu said. I just nodded my head to indicate that I understood.

"Okay, so anyway, I went to the bar and I sat with Beshte and his friend. We just talked and drank a little bit, having a good time, though a few people at the bar did stare at us and one person did ran away, but I'm used to it, I guess that one guy has just never seen an anthropomorphic crocodile in a bar before. But within two hours, I've had three or four beers and I might have gotten a little tipsy." Makuu said.

"A little? Man you weren't able to stand still and you almost got in a fight with someone who accidentally spilled their drink on you. To prevent you from tearing that guy to shreds, Cameron and I had to literally drag you out all the way to my car. And guys, that is how I got the vomit in my backseat on the way home. But I guess you can say that we are even now." Beshte replies.

"Exactly how did you get even?" Vuruga asked.

"Well, he got even by making my hangover period miserable. Blasting loud music during the morning I woke up from your couch as well as force feeding me tomato juice all throughout that day." Makuu said.

"Actually I did read something on how tomato juice is supposed to improve hangover, but it didn't have to be as ingested as much as I gave you yesterday." Beshte replied.

"Well, I guess, lesson learned then, don't ever puke in your car." Makuu said.

"More like don't have four beers in one sitting, there was a whole unit on that in my freshman year health class." Beshte replied.

We just all had a quick laugh after that and resumed our meal like any other day.


	14. Chapter 14: Memories

**Author's Note:** Hello Readers, this is the next chapter of this fanfic and I hope you enjoy it.

The rest of that week of work was not really that eventful. I worked on my research, I talked with colleagues and interns but that was pretty much all that went on the rest of that week.

On Saturday, I got up and did my usual weekend morning routine, got dressed, walked out of my apartment building to the Blue Line.

After getting off the Blue Line, I walked to a bus stop and got on the one that headed towards Lincoln Park. I got off and headed straight to a bench, on which I sat for five minutes until I saw Jasiri cross the street. She was wearing the black fitness clothes that she has worn on our other jogs before this. I just waved to signal where I was near the fountain.

We just jogged along the trail and just jogged past many trees, benches and small buildings present in the park, eventually jogging until we reached the Uptown area. Jasiri then took me to this ice cream place she told me about. We just got two cones with each having a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We then went towards Montrose Beach with our cones and we just resumed our conversation.

"Jasiri, I have to tell you that you were right about this ice cream place." I said.

"I know, I didn't believe it myself when my friend told me but that trip all the way to here was definitely worth it." Jasiri replied.

"The last time I had ice cream this good was when I was ten, when my mom took my sister and I to this place after my grandma's funeral." I recalled.

"Oh I'm sorry to hear about that." She replied back.

"It's okay, it happened a long time ago, and besides, it was not the first time one of my grandparents died." I said. This response sparked a look of intrigue from Jasiri.

"Wait, what do you mean not the first time? Are any of your grandparents still alive?" Jasiri then asked as we approached a grassy area near the beach.

"Oh no, all my grandparents have passed away. The first was my paternal grandfather, my father's father, but I was only four when he died so I never really knew him, so I wasn't really heavily affected by his passing. Then there was my father's mother, who passed when I was ten, whose funeral was the one was the one I told you about the ice cream. Then there was my mother's father, Gianluca, who I got my middle name from, well he died when I was thirteen. Lastly, there was my mother's mother, who passed away when I was sixteen." I said.

"Again, I am sorry to hear that. I completely understand what it is like to lose someone you love." Jasiri replied. I just turned my head to give Jasiri a light smile.

"Thanks Jasiri, even when I know that death is a part of life but sometimes I still think of them, particularly my mother's mother. Despite seeing my grandfather Gianluca only once or twice a year, I saw my grandmother much more often because she tended to visit us more since my mom had a strained relationship with her dad. Also, before my parents got divorced, my parents fought and argued on a constant basis, so my sister and I often called her for advice or comfort from the line of fire of a marriage which my parents thought that they can work out through rambling about a variety of topics, whether it was about money or stupid shit. My grandma managed to cheer us up or provide a comforting shoulder. But that eventually changed when I was about twelve and she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she started to be less and less active in our lives. Initially my grandfather helped her cope with the symptoms, but only a year after she was diagnosed, my grandfather died of a sudden heart attack and she had to go through her cancer symptoms all alone when she is at home. I cannot forget the last time I ever saw her, it was when I was sixteen, we visited her at her home and...and" I said as I began to pause since I was starting to feel the fear and grief I recalled that day, but I then I decided to continue just to finish the story.

"And I was just shocked, scared and sad to see her at that state. She reached Stage 4 cancer by that time and it spread all throughout her body. She lost so much hair from chemo that she was nearly bald and her body was so frail that she couldn't get out of her bed. We had one last conversation about life and at that time I recently saved up to buy an iPhone since that was the year they first came out, so I just showed it to her and she even played around with some of the apps. The next day, we received a phone call from her nurse that she passed away in her bed. I guess to some extent, I am still shocked of how a woman who was full of energy and presence at one point of my life ends up dying at the next, but she never gave up her strength. After she died, many of us had changed since then, despite my parents still being married four years after that, they finally divorced when I was twenty, eventually my relationship with my mom has improved but I still have a strained relationship with my dad. My sister decided that she wanted to travel the world before she died so she went to college for international business and now has a career in that, while I stuck with my interests in STEM, but that day was what solidified my interest in biochemistry, which eventually led to my interest in genetics." I said finishing my story, but to my surprise, I saw that Jasiri was starting to tear up a little bit.

"Uh Jasiri, are you okay?" I asked and we just began to sit down at this bench that was facing the lake and we threw out what remained of the cones that we had.

"Oh no I'm fine, it's just that I'm sorry about your grandmother and some of the details in your story about her remind me of...of what happened to some of my clan during the drought." Jasiri said while starting to inhale a little more frequently.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry if my story brought up any bad memories for you. I guess I recalled too much in talking about my grandmother." I said in an apologetic tone.

"Oh no, you didn't do anything. It's just that even when it was twenty years ago, I..I..I think about them almost everyday since they died. My parents died young so my older sister Madoa had to raise me on her own along with a few other hyenas in our clan. After we helped the Pride Landers dissolve the Army of Scar, both the Pride Landers and Outlanders decided that I could become Leader and Prime Minister of the Outlands…" Jasiri said before I briefly interrupted her.

"Wait a second, you were a Prime Minister?" I asked, still thinking it was strange how there were multiple, nonhuman governments in the middle of a savannah.

"Yeah, that was just a compromise between the rest of us and the vulture parlement, because they thought that the title 'Queen of the Outlands' sounded to undemocratic for them. So anyway, life was going pretty well at that point, I even had a mate. His name was Janja, he was originally this troublemaker who neither us or the Pride Landers could stand, but he then abandoned the Army of Scar to help us. Everything was going pretty well after that, but that all changed when the drought hit both the Pride Lands and Outlands. Despite the fact that the Outlands already had limited resources before the drought, but the drought just multiplied all of our original problems by ten. The watering hole dried up, the food that we scavenged started dying out much more rapidly and the vulture parlement straight up abandoned us. Sometimes went to the Pride Lands for resources, their stiphens still weren't enough because like us, their resources were beginning to dwindle too. The Outlands eventually turned into chaos, everyone began to turn on each other. There were eventually increased incidences of animals killing each other over the remaining scraps of food, in fact, my mate's two closest friends eventually killed each other over a mouse carcass they found. Day by day, dead bodies were starting to be ubiquitous across the Outlands, but when the food eventually ran out, many of the remaining animals have decided to go after the one remaining source for food...each other. Even though I tried to get the Pride Lands to possibly share their resources with them, but what they offered was still not enough for us since their resources also took a downwards spiral. When getting back to the Outlands from talking to their royals...I felt...I felt… that my whole world came crumbling to an end…" Jasiri said as I began to see a tear or two fall from her eyes grabbing a tissue from her bag that she was carrying to wipe them.

"It's okay Jasiri, you can take your time, or if you don't want to talk about-" I said wanting to try to cheer her up.

"Oh no Edwin, it's fine, a therapist told me that telling my story could help me deal with some of the grief that I might still feel over the incident. Anyway, so I got back to the Outlands, only to see some jackals and crocodiles carrying fresh pieces of meat while they ran, I tried to ask them where they got the meat from, but they ran out of hearing range, so I headed back to the cave where my clan usually stayed in, and...and that is when..when I saw the bodies." Jasiri said as she began to sniffle and tear up again.

"I now realized where the jackals and crocodiles got the meat, I saw the corpses of several of my remaining clan members, many with their bowels removed, holes in their torsos and blood flowing from their mouths. I was essentially mortified of what I saw...but then I got closer to the cave...I just froze in shock to see my mate, Janja…..laying there still with blood dripping from his mouth...and several deep wounds on his torso. I just ran up to him to try to see if I could do anything to help him...but he was just ...barely breathing and he was choking on his own blood. I tried to stop the bleeding from the rest of his body but there was just..just.. so much blood, there was nothing I could have done. Within a few minutes I saw the life completely drain from his eyes...next thing I knew...he was gone…" Jasiri said as she started to tear up more and more to the point where she couldn't speak anymore at the moment.

I just hugged her as the moment, I just wanted to do anything to help her feel better. Why did I have to bring up my dead grandparents? I basically just triggered a really painful memory for her, and this was just supposed to be two friends hanging out. Why do I have to be so stupid?

As Jasiri was tightening her grip around me, I just wanted to try to help her feel better.

"Jasiri, I am so so so sorry that I triggered that memory for you. I had no idea what I was talking about bringing up my dead grandparents like that, it was a stupid mistake and I will never make it again. If you want we can go back for some more ice cream, I'll pay for everything." I said.

Jasiri just started to let her arms arms go, the tears started to dry up and she started to form a light smile on her face.

"Oh no Edwin, it's not your fault. I guess that even after twenty years, the memories can still haunt me. I'm sorry about that outburst, but I will finish the story from here…" Jasiri said in a slow and more relaxed tone.

"Oh no, if it makes you feel uncomfortable recalling more of the story, you don't have to-" I said Jasiri calmly interrupted me.

"It's okay Edwin, I need to continue, it's part of my process...so anyway, after Janja died in my paws, I was grieving for the first two minutes, but I realized that I need to stay strong for my clan, but as I got up from near Janja's body, I saw that I was surrounded by the bodies by the rest of..the rest of my clan. They all had similar or worse wounds to Janja's, some even had internal organs ripped out of their bodies. All of them having died relatively before Janja. I then remembered the jackals and crocodiles that were carrying pieces of fresh meat when I came back and that was when I realized that they did this, individuals that I was starting to trust killed a large chunk of my clan for food, but that made me concerned for my sister and her son and daughter who were in the cave before I left. I ran to the cave and...and...I saw my niece and nephew ...both laying there with their...with their... throats ripped out, bleeding from multiple places of their already emaciated bodies. There was no hope for them but I then heard a noise to see that my sister was approaching me, all shaken up and eyes full of fear and despair. She was particularly grief-stricken by the deaths of her children because she was already pretty weak from starvation and dehydration so her kids had to takeover a lot of her responsibilities for our clan, and when the jackals ambushed the clan, her kids hid her in one of the far corners of the cave while they protected the jackals from entering deeper into the cave. With no clan left, Madoa and I realized that we had to go into hiding to try to avoid another ambush. So, with me carrying her on my back, left the cave to go to a new location up a nearby mountain. This arrangement between the two of us lasted about a week, but despite this, Madoa was getting weaker and weaker everyday from the limited food and water supplies. Then one day, I was coming back to bring our rations of food for the day, and...and even when she was already weak before, her condition was at the worst I have ever seen. You see Edwin, like you grandmother, my sister was also once this active, vibrant and reliable figure in my life. I witnessed the hyena who practically raised me turn into an emaciated assortment of mere skin and bones. I tried to feed her, but on that last day, she just pushed away the food and just stare at me for a few seconds and just thanked me for all that I have done for her and the clan. She then told me to stay strong and that she always loved me...and just a minute later...she couldn't go on any more...and she passed away right in front of me…" She continued as she grabbed another tissue from her bag and wiping her eye with it.

"I began my period of mourning and grief, but I soon realized that I needed to try get the Outlands back together, despite the chaos and killings and get through this drought. So after saying my final goodbyes to my sister's body and went down to find anyone willing to speak or listen to me. But as I got down from the mountain and to the area where I found the corpses of my clan… I was encountered with another surprise. Along with what's left of the corpses of my deceased my clanmates, I saw the bodies of several jackals and even a few crocodiles, all who had deep wounds with parts of their body ripped out. There was also blood in many of their mouths, so I assumed that they ended up killing each other for the remaining pieces of food. I recognized a few of the jackal corpses as their leader and her family, I'm guessing that the jackal pack was now destabilized at that point. I left to see if there was anyone else around but all I saw were more and more dead bodies of other Outlands residents, including a member of my clan, a few jackals and the rest of the crocodile float. They might have been able to win over more food sources, but the rest of the Outland crocodiles including their leader all lost the battle against dehydration. At that point I realized that...that I was completely alone and everyone else I knew in the Outlands is dead, so I left to go to the Pride Lands for two weeks before they eventually became uninhabitable and we left from there. So again, that's how I came from being the leader of the Outlands to a fossil preparator here. Even when I have gotten used to my new life, I basically get reminders of my past through my nightly transformations into my hyena form. When I... look at myself in the mirror each night… all I see is... is… the hyena who failed to protect her home and those around her...I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable Edwin... I just I just…" Jasiri said while trying to hold back her tears, but she just can't seem to hold back any more tears, I just decided to hug her at the moment while she continued to cry.

"Oh no no Jasiri, you're not bothering me, I'm here for you. None of anything that you experienced was your fault, it was the drought's." I said trying to cheer her up.

"But I let all those animals either die or kill each other over what should have been provided for them. Why was I ever recommended to be leader when everyone I knew or loved was going to die in my watch. How could it have not been my fault?" Jasiri replied while continuing to cry on my shoulder.

"But none of it was your fault, it was an extreme situation and there was very little any of you guys could have done about it. If anything it's probably our fault as humans, since we are the ones causing the astronomical CO2 emissions which in turn caused the crisis of climate change, and it's still damaging ecosystems at a large scale. I apologize for any part I might have contributed towards climate change and I know an apology would not be enough but I'm trying my best to lower my contribution to climate change." I said and Jasiri just started to look at me.

"Oh Edwin, I am aware of climate change and that damage it does. Even when I know that every human has contributed to it in one way or another, I do not hold anything against you because since living in the human world, I felt that I might have contributed a little to climate change myself. I just wished there was something I could have done to prevent my loved ones from dying." She replied back.

"I totally understand that, sometimes I wished I could have helped my grandmother when I was a teenager but there still isn't a cure for cancer yet so there was nothing I could have done about the disease. What happened to your clan was terrible and I am really sorry you had to go through that." I replied.

"It's okay Edwin,thanks for understanding though. I have to admit, it was first difficult adjusting to the human world as the only hyena hybrid of the group, so I took comfort in learning how to read, write, do basic math and the academics that I had, which actually helped me with the school part of it. After leaving Tanzania for the United States, I felt that I was basically alone as my human age was nine at the time, but I still had the comfort of my books, and to my initial surprise, I actually started to become really close with Makuu…" Jasiri was saying as a question popped into mind.

"Oh yeah, other than working together, I was wondering why you guys spend so much time together, are you two like… dating or something?" I asked while secretly hoping not in my mind. As soon as I asked that question she began to laugh.

"Dating?...Oh no not even close! You see along with the guardian the shaman assigned me to, Makuu was also assigned to live with her in the first two years in Tanzania and we even lived together when we moved to Milwaukee, though we separated when I went to UCLA to get my PhD, we eventually met up again when we heard about the job opportunities here in Chicago. As we began to communicate over the years, we realized that we had a lot in common, we both developed interests in geology and paleontology, we were both former leaders of our groups of animals and like my clan, every crocodile in his float also died during the drought." Jasiri replied in a more somber tone.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear about that." I replied.

"Yeah, he never wants to talk about it. So again I apologize about crying on your shirt." Jasiri replied back.

"Oh no it's totally fine. I completely understand why you felt this way, I would be devastated too if I lost my family that way. Oh, and sorry for mentioning my dead grandparents, I did not mean for those memories to act as some sort of trigger of those memories." I replied.

"Don't worry about it Edwin, it wasn't your fault and I know that wasn't your intention. So want to continue our jog?" Jasiri asked.

"Sure, why not?" I replied while we both stood up from the park bench we were sitting on.

We then continued to jog along the pathway until we got back to where we first started. After that we parted ways with her walking towards the nearest Red Line stop while I boarded a bus.

I kept thinking to myself about how much I got to know Jasiri today. It was shocking to see this side of her and what she went through was horrible. Sometimes I think of how different our lives are from one another and what paths we have taken to cross with one another and that still impresses me. What initially started as a jog in the park became a reminder that I really have a lot to learn about my new colleagues and friends.

Third Person P.O.V (1 hour later):

After finishing her jog with Edwin, Jasiri gets off the Red Line and gets off the Jackson stop. She then walks a couple of blocks westward before crossing the Jackson Boulevard bridge until she turned around a corner just a block after crossing the bridge. She then approaches a beige brick buildings with a couple of balconies on some of the higher floors. She uses o black fob on her keyring to unlock the door into the building. As she walks into the building, she walks across the lobby's greyish tiles, old green rug and a square of black mail slots and approaches a small desk with a black sign with white letters which says "Packages/Mailing". As she got to the desk she approached the desk attendant who had pitch black hair in a bun while wearing silver rimmed glasses with her sky blue uniform.

"Excuse me, do you have anything for Jasiri Fisi of unit 502?" Jasiri asks the attendant. As soon as she asked that, the attendant went to the backroom and within a minute, they came back with a small square package that was about a foot long on each side.

"Did you say Jasiri Fisi, unit 502?" The attendant asked.

"That's right." She replied as the attendant placed the package down and took out a clipboard from under the desk.

"Alright, I just need you to sign here saying you received the package." The attendant said. Jasiri then took the pen and just signed her name, unit number and what time she picked up the package.

"Okay thank you, have a good day." The attendant said as Jasiri grabbed the package.

"You too!" Jasiri said as she left the desk. She then took her keys out and placed one of them into the keyhole of one of the black mail slots.

She picked up four envelopes and walked into the elevator just as it opened. After waiting a minute or two later, the elevator arrived at the fifth floor and she headed to the first door on the right. After unlocking her door, Jasiri enters her modest apartment, which contains a small white sofa next to a tan coffee table with a black rug under them. Jasiri eventually placed the packages and envelopes on the coffee table.

"_I'm glad the frames finally arrive, but first I've got to change_" She thought to herself. She eventually went into her bathroom to take a shower after that jog with Edwin.

She while in the shower, she took some time to reflect on the conversation she and Edwin had during the jog. This was one of the first times she really recalled that story in detail to someone outside the former Pride Lands community that was not a psychologist. She also reflected on the journey her life has gone over the last twenty years, from being the leader of a hyena clan in the Outlands to becoming a fossil preparator for a museum in Chicago. After finishing her shower, she just changed into some casual black sweatpants and a white t-shirt.

She then went back to the coffee table to where the envelopes and package was. She picked up the envelope and started going through the pile.

"Electric bill, grocery store ad, water bill, museum weekly newsletter...I don't know why they still give us paper ones when we have the digital ones." She said to herself.

She then grabbed one of the keys on her key ring and used it to cut the tape on the top of the box and after pushing away the folds of the box's lid to reveal four empty picture frames, all of which have silver frames with small plant designs carved into them. She walks into her bedroom, goes to the bottom drawer of her nightstand and grabs a used sketch book and went back to the living room to the coffee table. She opened the sketch book to a page that contained a sketch of a male hyena with spots all over their torso with black colored paws, tail and fur line that starts at their head and extends to the upper back. The hyena in the sketch also had a notch on their left ear. This hyena also is drawn to be just sitting upon a work, with the name "_Janja_" written on the top right corner. After browsing at it for a minute, she soon tears the page out of sketchbook.

She then folds parts of the white space back so that she will be able to fit the piece of paper into the picture frame without tampering with the image. After finding the right position, she placed the sketch into the picture frame, fastened the back and placed the glass over the sketch. After placing that picture to her left, she moved onto another sketch but this was of a female hyena with similar details to the one of the male hyena, except she has a short hair tuft that is separated from the black fur that goes down her neck and neither of her ears have a notch. To the top right of the paper the name "_Madoa" _is written. Soon Jasiri eventually folded the edges of that sketch as she did the previous sketch to place them in the frame.

Eventually she moves on to the next sketch, which is of two younger hyenas playing with each other. There was a small male hyena who was being pinned down by a female around the same age as him. The male had similar details to the female from the second sketch, except they have no hair on his head, only a black spot on their forehead. The female that is pinning the male cub looked similar to the male, except she had a small hair tuft on her head. This sketch is accompanied with a short description on the top right corner which read "_Wema and Tumu"_. Jasiri then also place that sketch into another frame and turned to another sketch in front of her.

The sketch she looked at contained all the hyenas featured in the previous sketches but with a few others, particularly one in the center with a longer mane which might have had a few stands in the front, but the mane had more length and volume in the back. As Jasiri looks on to this sketch, she begins to reflect on how she was once that hyena in the center of the sketch, sitting along a rock formation watching over the Outlands. She then took a pencil from a nearby desk drawer and added the description "_Our clan_" on the top right corner, eventually folding the edges and placing the sketch in the last frame. After finishing these frames, She took them to her bedroom and placed the frames on the same nightstand where she retrieved the sketchbook, which she also placed back in its drawer.

Afterwards she just decided to make relax the rest of the day, leading her took tryout this stir-fry recipe she found online and basically made that her dinner.

As it started to become darker out, Jasiri was casually eating her dinner when she started to feel a familiar light pain in her abdomen. She then started to lay on a couch groan as the pain started to grow more intense. As this goes on, a formation appeared on her lower back, which is revealed to be a short tail with long black hairs on it. The tail was not the end of it, she soon started to grow gray fur all over her face and body. Her finger and toenails started to grow a little longer and black paw-like formations formed on her palms and feet. Her hair also grew a little longer and her canines grew a little longer in length and within a few seconds, the pain was immediately gone. At the end, she transformed into her anthropomorphic hyena form in the same way she has been doing it for over twenty years. A minute later, she just went back to finish her dinner.

After finishing her dinner, Jasiri just continued to watch a show that she has been streaming. She then heard a ding from her phone, so she grabbed it and saw a notice that said".

_Edwin Mariani has requested to follow you on Instagram_

She let out a slight smile, typed her passcode into her phone and went to her Instagram app. She see's Edwin's request and then accepts to confirm the request, later also sending a request of her own to follow his account.

She was about to put her phone down when she heard another ding from her phone, there were two notices. One was a notice that Edwin accepted her Instagram request and coincidentally, a text from Edwin, which reads:

_Hey Jasiri, how's it going? I'm sorry if I accidentally triggered anything from today's conversation today, I never meant to do that. Despite that, I really enjoyed our jog today and we should definitely hang out more often. Anyways, I hope you are doing well and have a good night._

Jasiri appreciated that Edwin was actually concerned about her welfare, something very few of the humans she knows have ever done. She decided to respond back to her text.

_Hi Edwin, I'm doing well and don't worry about this afternoon, it was none of your fault and I understand that you were not intending to trigger those memories. Other than that part, I also really enjoyed our jog, but next time we have intimate conversations, let's just do it in private :) See you at work!_

After sending the text, Jasiri just continued to watch TV for two more hours before heading towards the bathroom to wash her face. As she continued, she just stared at her face in the mirror two minutes, she then went to her bedroom to grab the sketch of her and her now deceased clan, she looks at the sketch of herself as her old hyena self and then looks in the mirror to look at her current anthropomorphic form. Even when many of the facial features are the same, she then factors in when she is human during the day.

She then turns back to her sketch again and a small tear forms in the side of her eye.

"Why am I the one who lived while all of you guys perished? How did I survive?...I can't believe it's been twenty one years since I started this life." Jasiri says to herself.

Afterwards, she went back to her room, placed the sketch back on her nightstand and just tried to get some sleep.


	15. Chapter 15: Conversations

Edwin P.O.V:

It has been two days since my jog with Jasiri, and I felt that I have learned a new side of her. I have never seen her cry before, and it really made me curious that if she went through that bad of an experience during the drought while living in the Outlands, I wonder how that exactly compared to the Pride Lander's experience in the drought. While I was working in the genetics lab today, I was still thinking about her so frequently that I almost spilled agarose powder on my hand. I was initially going to ask Jasiri out during our jog, but after accidentally triggering those memories for her, it might be best that I wait a few days before trying to ask her out again.

So, I placed some finished placing some agarose filled petri dishes in the incubator and I left the rest of my colleagues and started heading downstairs towards the cafe.

"So how have your weekends been?" I asked my colleagues.

"Oh nothing special, just relaxed and practically did the same stuff I do almost every weekend." Vuruga replied.

"Yeah, same here." Bupu replied after her.

"Me too." Pete replies.

"Same, how about you Edwin, did anything interesting this weekend? Oh wait, didn't you go for a jog with Jasiri?"

"Oh yeah and we tried out this ice cream parlor she recommended, totally worth it if you guys ever have the opportunity. So yeah, and then I said how I have not really had ice cream that good since my grandmother's wake and then she asked me to tell her a little more about my grandparents and I recalled one story about my grandmother which I now deeply regret." I said as we were walking down the stairs to the lower level.

"Wait, why would you regret that story?" Pete asked.

"Because I told her a story involving how my grandmother was once an active woman, but I also told of how things have changed before she died of breast cancer… and then she said that the story of my grandmother's death was similar to the deaths of several loved ones in the clan she once led in the Outlands, and then she began to tell the story of how her mate, niece, nephew, sister and almost everyone she knew in the Outlands have died. She started to cry a little bit so I tried to comfort her a little bit, I apologized to her several times and things seemed to cool down. Oh and we follow each other on Instagram now… but that's beside the point. The point is that I still feel a little guilty about it and-" I continued before Makini interrupted me.

"Oh Edwin, it's okay, I know you didn't mean to do that and yeah, Jasiri and I actually talked yesterday and she doesn't hold anything against you, many of our therapists actually recommended the same thing as Jasiri's to talk about our experience as a way to let those memories go. Just next time, be more careful about approaching the subject of death." Makini said in a more calming tone as we approached a table in the cafe.

"Yeah, even when it was over twenty years ago, there are sometimes things we are still haunted by, so if you do reach a trigger with us, we'll let you know." Vuruga said.

"Don't feel bad Edwin, I also learned that the hard way." Pete replies. As he finished that, we started to hear footsteps approaching us, and as we turned around, we just see Beshte approaching our table.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" He asked as he sat down.

"Oh nothing much, I was just telling them about my jog with Jasiri. We both told each other a little about our pasts. For example, she told me about the Prime Minister thing, and did you ever met this mate she had in the Outlands?" I said and there were some more serious expressions on my colleagues' faces, well except for Pete, who seems to have a more inquisitive expression.

"Oh yeah, Janja, yeah he once used to cause so much trouble, but then he began to change for the better before he was killed. That's probably a topic you want to avoid bringing up again." Beshte said, sounding a little more stern towards the end.

"Okay, I've taken note of that. I'm sorry if this is an inappropriate question, but in your opinion, how does dating or relationships differ from the human world to back in the Pride Lands?" I asked. This caused the former Pride Landers to look at each other and Bupu started to snicker a little bit.

"Honestly, we were surprised how complicated human dating is because back in the Pride Lands we just mated with someone from our herd or whatever, while in the human world you could meet absolute strangers through bars, apps, mutual friends and so on, which could only last one night in some cases. Sometimes I'm still shocked how complicated dating is in the human world." Bupu replies.

"I know right? I tried Tinder a few times, I'm still perplexed by the idea of trying to find a match through swiping pictures of total strangers." Beshte said.

"Oh yeah, and I remember being stood up on three occasions by people I met online." Makini said with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Oh yeah, that's annoying, try having several of your dates runaway within seconds of your transformation, leaving you alone at a table with two meals by yourself. Oh and there was one instance where a guy I met seemed a little too interested in my buffalo form, but in a creepy way, so I basically snuck out of a bathroom window to get away from him. Chipped the tip of one of my horns in the process." Vuruga said.

"Yeah, I totally understand where you guys are coming from, I can't count how many times I've been friend-zoned by women I was interested in. But the most embarrassing dating memory for me would probably be the time where I accidentally spilled a glass water on my ex-girlfriend's mother." I replied, getting a few laughs from the group.

"Oh Edwin, that is nothing compared to my most embarrassing memory. So you see, I was in high school and Usher was pretty big during the time so I decided to impress my girlfriend at the time by trying to learn some of his moves. So yeah, that ended up being a total disaster and I accidentally bumped into a teacher, making them accidentally spill a cup of hot coffee on my girlfriend. It ended with me getting one day of detention for bumping into the teacher, and I earned the nickname 'Sloppy Legs' for the next three years of high school." Pete said, which produced light laughter from us.

"Okay, I admit that's pretty bad, but a large chunk of us did stuff we regret in high school." I replied.

"For those of us who took the GED, we might have not went to high school, but there were things we regretted both when we first lived with humans and when we still lived in the Pride Lands." Vuruga added.

"Oh no, it's not over. Two weeks after my dance number, my girlfriend dumped me for the quarterback of our school's football team, who was also my brother, and they are married now, so family reunions are quite awkward." Pete said in a slightly embarrassed tone.

"Oh, that's tough to hear, Pete" Makini replies.

"Yeah, it doesn't really bother me anymore, I've told the story nearly a thousand times so I'm now immune to people calling me 'Sloppy Legs'' Pete replies.

"Edwin, you know the drill, you hold our bags for us while we get our lunch." Bupu said as the eventually left many of their bags near my seat. As most of them left the table, I noticed that Beshte didn't leave the table.

"Hey Beshte, are you not buying lunch today?" I asked. He then placed a paper bag on the table.

"Oh no, like you I brought some food from home, I'm trying to save up for a new place closer to the museum." Beshte replied

"Okay, that's cool. So other than that, how are things going for you today?" I asked.

"Everything's going alright, I had to deal with only two lost kids today so far and on desk duty, Kion has only yelled at only three people today so that is a calming start compared to most days." Beshte replied. A question popped into my mind.

"Okay, that's cool. I'm not trying to judge but what is up with that Kion guy, because he seems to be tempermental a lot in some cases. Did he go through stuff or is his position stressful?" I asked. Beshte's face changed into a more serious expression.

"Yes, working security could be stressful once in a while, but I have no idea what is up with Kion. Back in the Pride Lands and Tree of Life, he used to be such a caring, level-headed and considerate friend and sure, he might have suffered through anger spills during our first journey to the Tree of Life, but he got over that. He was recovering well from those initial anger spills, but since the coup, drought and transformation, he started to become heavily insecure. It just got worse after being dismissed from the army and Rani divorcing him. After those two events, he took out his anger on everyone, even me on a couple of occasions, which also occurred in several failed relationships of his, but I would rather not talk about those details." Beshte said.

"Dude, it sounds like that Kion has some kind of anger problem, have you ever thought about suggesting him attending anger measurement sessions?" I asked being concerned about the situation.

"Oh yeah, we have tried suggesting to him several times, but he has rejected all those attempts. Even though I think he did receive a wake up a little bit of a wake up call several years ago when he- actually I would rather not talk about it but I think there is still a chance for Kion...I hope." Beshte said. With another question in my mind, I was hoping to move on past the awkward subject.

"Hey Beshte, moving on past this subject, I have a question to ask you and don't worry, it's not about Kion this time." I said. As I finished speaking, I saw Beshte's expression perk up a little bit.

"Sure Edwin, what is it?" Beshte said with slightly more enthusiasm than a few minutes ago. I took a deep breath before I finally spoke.

"So, do you know if Jasiri from the fossil department is single? It's because I want to ask her out but I'm not sure what the right time would be for that because I know today would not be a good time because we just discussed he dead mate two days ago. When do you think would be the right time?" I asked him. As I mentioned liking Jasiri, I saw Beshte raise his eyebrows with a slightly surprised expression on his face.

"Wow, I had no idea you were interested in Jasiri. Well, to be honest, I have no idea how she is with dating now. Of course I know about Janja, and she might have told me about a two or three guys she briefly dated in Milwaukee and then there was one ex that she really doesn't want to talk about. I know she wanted to focus more on her career after that ex, but I'm not sure how she is with dating now, we don't encounter each other that much outside of our lunch breaks. You could always give it a try but I'm not sure how she will respond." Beshte replied

"Okay, I understand but thanks for the input, so I will not mention anything about exes to her." I said, while Beshte begins to reply, I start to hear footsteps from behind us.

"That's probably a good start but who knows, she might react to it differently or-" Beshte said.

"Who might react differently to what?" a familiar voice interrupted. We turned around to see it was Jasiri and Makuu standing right near us. We were a little nervous because we didn't know how much she had heard, so I just started to act casual.

"Oh hey guys… when did you get here?" I said, trying not to seem suspicious.

"Literally two seconds ago, right when you guys were saying someone might react to something differently, I'm just curious on what you guys were talking about." Jasiri asked in an inquisitive tone. We were just trying to make an excuse out of the blue because again, this is not a good time to ask Jasiri out.

"Oh yeah… you see uh… Beshte talked to me about how he is throwing this… surprise party for this friend of his… uh… Tess from accounting…" I said and Beshte seems to be following up on it and decides to add to the excuse.

"Yeah, and I was just telling Edwin that… I'm not sure how Tess is going to react to the surprise party because... she gets scared easily." Beshte said, after which we both flashed some awkward smiles.

"Okaay...perhaps you could ask Kiara for some input since she works close with that department." Jasiri said in a slightly suspicious tone as both her and Makuu sat at our table.

Eventually the rest of my colleagues returned with their trays and sat down at the table, and shockingly Makuu had something to initiate a conversation.

"Oh and speaking of Kiara and her family, I heard that there is trouble in paradise for her parents' marriage." Makuu said with a hint of enthusiasm in his voice.

I was a little intrigued because they seemed put together when I met them, but from first-hand experience I understand that all marriages can have their issues sometimes. Even with that in my, I was a little intrigued that many of the people have expressions of surprise on their face.

"Really? They seemed so perfect all of the time, it's hard to imagine that anything was wrong with them." Makini said

"I know, they seemed to always be madly in love with each other in public so I assumed there were no issues." Beshte aid.

"Yeah same here, they just seemed to be in this bubble where everything seems perfect?" Vuruga said. After she finished, Jasiri then turned her head towards me.

"Hey Edwin, I'm just curious, how did your parents act around other people regarding their marriage?" Jasiri asked. I was a little surprised, even when part of me knew that it was coming.

"Well, before my parents divorced, they acted in a similar way to how you described Simba and Nala, acting seemingly a little too put together and portraying the facade of a perfect married couple when they actually hide all of their issues at home, and no one except for people living in the house know about them. Even when I understand that many married couples can have one or two issues and still be happy together, normal couples are usually willing to discuss their issues with either friends, counselors or each other in a rational way, but if a couple refuses to talk about their issues to people outside of their home, that is when I would get suspicious. Although, since I have only seen Simba and Nala only once, I really have no second set of notes to compare with my parents' sunken ship of a marriage." I replied.

"Okay, so I guess we have to just look closer at the signs to catch on to these issues, oh and by the way Makuu, where did you hear about Simba and Nala potentially having marital problems?" Bupu asked.

"Oh Rafiki told me when we bumped into each other to get coffee, and Rafiki heard it from Zazu, who allegedly heard the two arguing when he passed by Simba's office door." Makuu said.

"Wait? It started with Zazu? Great, now the whole museum will know including visitors and tourists. Since you're new here Edwin, we should tell you that Zazu is the biggest blabbermouth in the museum, so don't ever try to keep a secret with him." Vuruga said.

"Okay, noted" I said. Then at some point Makini turned towards me.

"Hey Edwin, I'm curious how are your parents doing since they divorced?" She asked me.

"Even when they divorced eight years ago, they each seem to be doing well, though they haven't really talked to each other since my father married another woman and moved to Florida. My mother still lives in Chicago in my old neighborhood and she's just living her life." I replied.

"Oh so your mother isn't dating any guys at this moment?" Vuruga asked and I actually snickered a little in response.

"Oh wait I forgot to tell you, a year or two after the divorce she came out as lesbian so she is dating no guys at the moment. So far she is still single as I know of, but she is definitely on the search for someone special." I said.

"Okay cool, wait I think Vitani from the tour guide is lesbian so perhaps we could set them-" Makini was about to say before being interrupted.

"Actually, Vitani is bisexual, but we could still give it a shot because I think she is also single." Jasiri said.

"Okay, it depends if Vitani would like to date a sixty year old bank teller named Julia who likes to roller skate and started a backgammon club." I said in a slightly playful tone.

"Okay, noted." Makini said.

After five minutes, we eventually finished our lunches and we were going to head back to our respective work areas. Before we left, though, I pulled Beshte aside and decided to tell him something.

"Hey Beshte, promise not to tell anyone about me trying to ask Jasiri out, and based on what I heard today, especially don't tell that HR receptionist, Zazu." I whispered.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He replied while giving an assuring expression on his face as we exited the cafe.

A few hours pass by and the rest of my day was mostly just research and the last half hour of my day was just to get started on a paper discussing our research on the impacts of environmental changes to lichen genomes. After finishing those starting touches, I began to gather my things as I finish my workday and before I leave, I decided to check if there is anything in my mail slot next to my office.

As I checked my mail slot, I noticed a thin eggshell-colored envelope, no stamp, and the inscription:

"_To Dr. Edwin G. Mariani PhD., Pritzker Genetics Lab"_

I took the envelope and opened it from the back and I found a slip of paper which read:

_To whom it may concern,_

_You are invited to take part in the first meeting of Field Museum Faculty's Human-Hybrid Alliance. This organization is intended to improve communication and relations between former Pride Lander/ Tree of Life Residents and human coworkers to potentially deal with any biases or misconceptions from either side. This first meeting will be held on the museum's lower level lecture hall at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, July 30. Since it will also be the 21rst anniversary of the hybrids' official transformation,before the official meeting there will be a short memorial for those who have died in the Tree of Life coup, and the droughts of the Outlands and Pride Lands. For the memorial, there will be a shrine outside of the lecture room, at which anyone is welcome to leave any cards or flowers to pay respects to the lives of the deceased. At the beginning o the meaning, there will be a two minute moment of silence to commemorate the twenty first anniversary. After the moment of silence, there will be a brief introduction on what this alliance will do to try to benefit all museum faculties and employees. Throughout the rest of the meeting everyone will be picked randomly to discuss either their experiences, hopes or questions about the hybrid or human experience and what could members of each type do to help make the lives of those of the other side somewhat easier, so we can communicate with each other in an efficient manner. For future meetings we plan to meet every other Friday since Tuesdays could be inconvenient for some workers. Please confirm your attendance through filling out the RSVP in the link below and if you have any further questions, please email me through the address below. Hope to see you there so we can communicate with each other._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Your friend,_

_Rafiki Mwongozo_

_Human Resources_

I eventually looked to see the link and e-mail address the letter mentioned. The alliance mentioned in the letter sounds interesting and perhaps I could attend a meeting just to see what it would be about.

I eventually just placed the envelope in my bag and left my office and lab for the day. After getting to the Red Line stop, I continued to think about when would be the right time to ask Jasiri out, but I can't figure out when...that is until I saw a woman with a familiar haircut on the subway platform. Perhaps this was the right time to ask her out? I started to feel a little nervous as I approached them. I eventually decided to try to get them to notice me.

"Hey Jasiri, how's it go-" I was about to say as they turned around...and it turns out that it's not Jasiri, it's just some random woman with a similar haircut.

"Oh, I'm so sorry miss, I thought you were someone else." I said, but the woman just walked away towards the train heading southbound towards 95th and Dan Ryan. Within two minutes, my train arrived and I resumed to get into the train.

Third Person P.O.V

As Jasiri walks down the steps towards the Roosevelt Red Line platform and saw Edwin getting in the northbound train towards Howard, but the doors closed before she even got down the steps. She continued to look at the train as it left the platform, but when looking at that train, there was a hint of uncertainty in her face, reflecting upon an inner conflict that has been going on in her mind for a while. After briefly staring at the tunnel, she just went to the platform to wait for the next train to come.

Edwin P.O.V:

As I got home to my apartment, I decided to go onto my laptop and type up the link from the envelope.

I finished typing the link when I received a text message, I looked to see that it was from Makini.

_Hey Edwin, did you by any chance receive some letter about some Human-Hybrid Alliance Rafiki is planning because I received one this afternoon?_

In my mind, I was relieved to see Makini received an envelope too, ensuring that this was not some kind of scam or something. I just replied back.

_Hey Makini, yes I received that same envelope, I'm think I'm going to attend just to see what the meeting or organization would be all about_

After I replied to the text, I finished going to the link and I just filled out the online RSVP for the meeting to notify that I will be attending it. As soon I finished the RSVP form, I just relaxed on my couch for a while, reflecting on my day, my life, whether or not Jasiri will say yes if I ask her out, and also… were my colleagues actually serious about trying to set the tour guide with my mom, well, I'll just have to see to find out.


	16. Chapter 16: Just Another Day

**Author's Note:** Hello readers, here is the next chapter. I apologize for the delay, this is one of my longer chapters. I hope you enjoy it.

Third Person P.O.V:

It was a typical Thursday morning in Chicago's Museum Campus at 7:00 AM and along with the early morning joggers, two people, Anga and Fuli, were walking along a pathway towards the Field Museum to start their shifts.

"So Fuli, did you receive some letter from Rafiki about a Human-Hybrid Alliance that he is planning to form?" Anga asked.

"You too? I thought it was just me. It seems that Rafiki really wants us to improve relations with the human coworkers." Fuli replied.

"Okay, but I don't think there are many issues, we've been living with humans for twenty one years and we literally are humans during the day." Anga said.

"True, but I think Rafiki might be trying to help deal with potential implicit biases that may occur and to try to disprove any misconceptions each side has on each other." Fuli said.

"Oh okay, it also gives me an opportunity to see if I could get an answer to the question 'why humans are so obsessed with celebrities?' because it's been twenty one years and I still don't get it." Anga said, with Fuli giving a laugh in response.

"Yeah, it's pretty weird, but to be fair, much of the Pride Lands was obsessed with Hadithi the eagle, including a certain someone." Fuli replied in a sly tone while nudging Anga's arm, causing her to blush.

"Alright, alright, you have a point, but that's because I thought he was going to be my mate, but then I found out that he had been seeing seven other birds behind my back. We eventually got even, I basically found the seven birds, confronted him and we plucked most of the feathers from his body clean and after that he just left without any notice to anyone. Doesn't matter now, he's probably been dead for at least a decade but I'm not sure since he left before the drought." Anga said.

"Yeah, the past is the past, it honestly took me years to get over Azaad's death, but look at us now, we are living our new lives with our jobs in the museum, each other and oh are you still seeing that dude you met at your gym?" Fuli said.

"Oh you mean Ben? Oh no I broke up with him two weeks ago, I'm seeing Fabian now, you know the guy I met at crossfit." Anga said.

"Oh yeah, the guy with the sweatband and highlights?" Fuli asked.

"Yep, that's him. How are things going with that guy from Makini's self-defense class, was his name Alex?" Anga said.

"You mean the douche bag with that claims to have a demo, yeah I had to let that that guy go after only a week. He was just too much for me, he was never on time for dates, and he swears that he's going to be the next big thing in music, but he is absolutely terrible at it. I highly doubt that guy will make it out of his mom's basement, let alone the music industry." Fuli said while both women started to laugh.

The begin to climb the stairway to the museum entrance, once they got to the top of the staircase they opened the glass doors and once they get into the museum, both women started to shiver from the breeze of the main floor's air conditioning system.

"Sometimes I forget how easily humans get cold. I miss having fur during the day to avoid stuff like this." Fuli said.

"I know how you feel, even when I have my feathers during the night, I miss having them during the day. I also miss flying, I still remember how exhausting it was when I first transitioned from flying to walking everyday." Anga replied.

They eventually timed in at the security plaza and approached their assigned desk for the day to see that to their shock, Bunga was actually sitting there.

"Hey guys, how's it going? Lovely morning isn't it?" He said.

"Bunga? Wow for the first time since knowing you, you actually arrived early on the job." Anga said.

"Yeah, I know I'm not usually one for punctuality but I figured out that if I came earlier, I could be finished with my day earlier, thus I can have some more me time." Bunga said.

"Uh Bunga, you do know that despite what time you come, all daytime security guards end their shifts at five right?" Fuli said starting to for a smirk on her face as both she and Anga approached the desk.

"Wait what? Ah man! Now all I did was just added more work to my schedule?! Ah whatever...Wake me up when people start to come in" Bunga said while he put his head on the desk to take a nap.

A few minutes later, many of the employees of the various departments started to check in through the security desk. At one point, Kion came to the desk, wearing his ponytail and navy blue security officer uniform, with an irritated expression on his face.

"Bunga! How many times do I have to tell you, there is no sleeping at the job in ANY condition! Now wake your stupid ass up and get back to work!" Kion yelled as Bunga started to raise his head up.

"Yes sir" Bunga replied, while starting to help check people in from his desk. Kion eventually turned his head towards Anga.

"Anga, you are going to be on the second floor for the rest of the day, I can take over from here." Kion said as he immediately began to approach the desk while Anga slowly stood up and grabbed her things and headed off to started to head off to the staircase that goes to the second floor.

"What are you doing, Anga?! The second floor won't guard itself, hurry the fuck up." Kion said practically yelling, which caused Anga to practically speed walk.

While Anga, was approaching the staircase she saw a familiar bespectacled guard descend from that same staircase.

"Hey Anga, how's it going?" The guard asked.

"Oh hey Ono, nothing much I just got assigned to the second floor, so I'm just heading over there. How about you?" She replied.

"Oh nothing much just heading the control room. See you later!" Ono said.

"See ya!" Anga said as she went up the stairs.

Ono made his way to the control room as he passed by a familiar human resources receptionist.

"Hi Zazu." He said.

"Oh hello Ono." Zazu said as he headed back to the Human Resources offices. Once arriving at his reception desk he just started to complete his work for the day.

After about an hour of organizing online files and appointments, Rafiki eventually came to Zazu's desk with some papers.

"Hello Zazu, can you please go over to Simba's office for me and give him these papers dealing with our budget proposal, I would really appreciate it." He said while giving Zazu a tan Manila envelope.

"Oh sure, Rafiki, I'll do it right away." Zazu replies as he begins to stand from his chair. Before leaving the room, he then places a sign on his desk that says _I'll be back shortly_.

Zazu then exits the human resources office and turns left to the adjacent hallway where the museum administration offices are located. In the administrative hallway there were some painters applying a new coat of white paint to the walls while the other side consists of doors and several of Rafiki's paintings. Zazu continued to walk down the hallway until he reached an office whose door was slightly ajar with a nameplate that reads _Simba Furahi, President and Chief Executive Officer. _As Zazu walked towards the office he started to get closer to the office, he started to hear a conversation.

"_Simba, you know that tickles" an unknown female voice says affectionately._

"_But Melinda, you know I can't resist those dimples of yours." Simba replied._

"_And you know that I can't resist your rugged features," the female voice said._

Zazu then slowly approached the office door to take a peek to see exactly how busy Simba was. He looked into the office to see that Simba was passionately kissing this woman who he has never seen before. This woman had long curly blond hair and was wearing a grey pantsuit with black high-heeled shoes.

Zazu was shocked to see that his boss actually was cheating on Nala, thinking that this might have been the cause of the riff he has seen between the two. So to avoid potential repercussions of confronting Simba in the act, he decided to just gently knock on the wall next to the door.

Simba and Melinda eventually heard the banging and a voice call out

"Hello Mr. Furahi, this is Zazu, I just came to deliver the budget proposal from human resources." Zazu said through the wall. This triggered a nervous response from the two of them.

"Quick, button your shirt up and just don't say anything to anyone." Simba whispered while buttoning his own shirt. "Just a second!" He yelled towards the wall.

"Okay and place your hair in a ponytail, I can just pretend to help you organize your files." Melinda said as she headed towards one of the cabinets.

"Come in!" Simba said as he is placing his hair into a ponytail. Zazu then came in with his manila folder.

"Okay so I have organized all administrative transaction files and payment records by date, is there anything else I can do for you, your highness?" Melinda said trying to play along with the charade.

"Thank you Melinda, I appreciate that. You could also help me by faxing these files to accounting for me." He said while giving her a stack of folders. After Melinda received the files, she just left to room to go to a fax machine.

"So Zazu, what can I do for you?" Simba said in a more casual tone while Zazu hands over his folder.

"Yes, so Mr. Furahi-" Zazu was about to say before Simba interrupted him.

"Zazu you know I prefer that you address me as 'Your Majesty'," Simba said in an almost irritated tone.

"But Simba, you know that this isn't the Pride Lands anymore, in fact we don't even live in a monarchy anymore." Zazu said while Simba's expression gets more irritated expression.

"Yes, I know all of that, but may I remind you who is the one in this room who manages everyone's paychecks." Simba replied forming a smirk on his face.

"Fine, your majesty, I just came to give you the budget proposal for the Human Resources department." Zazu said gesturing to his envelope.

"Oh okay, thank you I will take a look at it later." Simba said in a calmer tone.

"Also I have another question, who was that woman that was in your office earlier?" Zazu said.

"Oh that's Melinda, she's an intern from UIC Business School." Simba replied.

"Oh okay, I guess I just haven't been here as often so I guess I wouldn't have seen her before. See you later, then." Zazu said as he began to leave the room.

"See you later, Zazu." Simba said, getting started on some work on his laptop.

Zazu continued to walk down the hallway until he managed to get back to the Human Resources offices again.

Meanwhile on the second floor, the people in the artifact conservation lab, several people were working on restoring and putting back together puts from the Inca people. They were restoring these pots so that they can be displayed for the museum's Ancient Americas exhibit. Several people were in individual stations working on their pieces of pottery. Then Kovu enters the main area through the back door to check on his colleagues and coworkers.

"All right, listen up everyone, for today we are just finishing restoring the pots that we started working on yesterday. So to remind you, be incredibly delicate with these pots since they are hundreds of years old. Also even when it may be tempting, DO NOT RUSH while working, it's just better to take your time with each pot. So anyway, interns if you have any questions or complications during the process, please come to either me or a colleague." Kovu said before heading to a station himself.

They started to work and this lasted for two hours with each station at varying steps in restoring their pots, with Kovu working at a station with one of his non-hybrid colleagues and two college- aged interns. One of the interns who had a long black ponytail and glasses turned to Kovu's direction.

"Hey Dr. Mgeni, I'm curious, is there any ancient civilization or type of artifact that particularly interests you?" The intern asks.

"Oh please call me Kovu, and to be totally honest, I'm heavily interested in investigating Ancient Egypt because I've always been intrigued by their writing system and history. I've also been interested in investigating early civilizations of Sub-Saharan Africa because they have so many complex stories that many historians barely scratched the surface of." Kovu replied.

"Oh okay, so how long have you-" The intern said until noticing that no glue is coming out of her tube, Kovu noticing the interns confusion.

"Is everything okay Julita?" Kovu said.

"Oh nothing Kovu, I just ran out of glue, do you know where I could get some more?" Julita asked.

"There are probably still some tubes in the supply drawer over there," Kovu said while pointing towards a supply cabinet. Julita eventually got up to get a new tube of glue from the supply cabinet and returned back to her station with the new tube.

"So Dr. Mgeni, exactly how long have you been working at the museum?" Julita asked.

"About three years, my father-in-law first worked for their marketing department and notified me of job openings in the artifact conservation lab, I applied and that's how I got here." Kovu said as he was working on his pot.

This went on for another thirty minutes until everyone placed their restored pots into an incubator before all of them started a lunch break. Kovu hung up his lab coat and exited the lab and started to head downstairs.

Meanwhile in her office, Kiara was working on a proposal on how to improve visitor numbers over a year long plan. While she was typing, she heard a knock on her door.

"It's open!" She yelled towards the door, after which the door opened to see that her husband Kovu was behind the door.

"Hey Kiara, how's it going?" Kovu said while walking towards a chair which he sat down in.

"Oh hi Kovu, I'm fine, just trying to finish this proposal to improve visitor numbers, how about you?" Kiara said.

"Nothing special, just working on restoring those pots we started yesterday. So you have any ideas for lunch?" Kovu asked.

"Don't you ever remember? I ordered from that Nepali restaurant nearby, you know the one with the sel rotis you like?" Kiara said.

"Oh yeah right, I can pick up the order for you." Kovu said as he was about to exit until Kiara also stood up.

"Hold it right there! I'll come with you because first of all, I need a break from sitting in this desk for four hours. Second, I need a break from that proposal and third I want to make sure you don't eat all of the sel rotis like last time." Kiara said while deviously squinting at Kovu at the last part.

"What? I don't know what you are talking about" Kovu said playfully, pretending to act innocent.

"Oh please Kovu, we've been together for nearly twenty years and married for nearly eight years in human law, so I have seen you steal one or two bites from hunts, our meals and multiple encounters with our fridge… That's right I see you." Kiara jokingly said as she narrows her eyes.

"Alright you got me there, can we just get our lunch now?" Kovu said as he was admitting defeat.

"Alright let's go!" Kiara said as she grabbed her bag and she and Kovu exited her office. As they walked across the museum's main floor, they could help but notice that Makini and Vitani were heavily in discussion.

"Hmm...I wonder what they are talking about?" Kovu said. Kiara then turned her head towards him after he said that.

"Who knows?" Kiara said while they just continued to walk towards the main door.

As Kiara and Kovu left to pick up their lunch order, Makini and Vitani were continue to discuss something that seems to only getting looks of annoyance from Vitani.

"Oh come on Vitani, from the last time I heard it has been seven months since you been on a date and you seem like a decent person. I'm sure who I plan to set you up will be decent as well. From what I heard she's a bank teller who's pretty active and she even has a backgammon club-" Makini pleaded until Vitani turned her head to iritantly interrupt her.

"Makini! How many times do I have to tell you, I will NOT go out with your colleague's mother!" Vitani declared.

"Oh come on, why not?!" Makini pleaded.

"Well first of all she's sixty, so the age gap would have made things awkward. Second, you're a horrible matchmaker haven't you learned from your mistakes?" Vitani replied.

"Name one time I ever did a bad match?" Makini said, feeling slightly offended.

"Well there was that time you set Fuli up with your self-defense classmate with the 'demo'..." Vitani said while putting hand quotes on the word demo.

"What are you talking about? Alex is recording his own music." Makini said trying to defend herself.

"Yeah, in his mom's basement. Oh and there was the time you tried setting up Emma from the gift shop with that dude from your building...from what Tiffu tells me, Emma put bars on her window after that date. Then there was a time that you tried setting up Makuu with that woman you met on the Orange Line, who ended up only went out with him to try to get someone to invest in her insane onion-scented shampoo idea. Oh and what else...oh yeah, the time you set me up with Heidi." Vitani said.

"Oh come on, you said Heidi initially stole you heart." Makini replied.

"Yeah and she eventually stole my identity and two thousand dollars from my bank account." Vitani said.

"Okay I admit, I might have made some mistakes but perhaps this match up could make up for Heidi…"Makini was saying until she saw Edwin walking towards the stairs to lower level go to the cafe.

"Hey Edwin! Come here!" Makini called as Edwin started to approach the two.

"Now Edwin, tell Vitani that you're mother would be a good person for her to date." Makini said.

"Oh Makini, I wish I could but she's actually already started seeing someone, like literally two days ago." Edwin replied. Makini was a little surprised while Vitani was slightly relieved.

"Really? You couldn't have told me two days ago? Oh and congrats for her, who's the luck lady?" Makini said now changing to a more inquisitive tone.

"Well all she told me was that she met them at a farmer's market one time, they started out as friends and recently they started to take things more seriously. But other than that, all I really know about my mom's new girlfriend is that she works in finance. For some reason she's strangely evasive and secret about it, I don't even know this person's first name." Edwin said.

"I wouldn't worry about it. Not everybody really tells every single about their life to people they know. Would you tell your mother every single detail about you're dating life?" Vitani said.

"Oh no, not every single little detail, there are some details I'd rather not discuss with my moth- okay, now I see your point." Edwin said.

"Okay, good that we now have that cleared up, so excuse me I just need to discuss a matter with the people at front desk. See ya!" Vitani said as she headed towards the information desk.

"See ya!" Both Edwin and Makini said before they themselves started hearing to the downstairs cafe.

As the two were walking to meet up with their colleagues, Timon was also heading to the cafe alone from his shift. When he got there, he saw his friend and adoptive nephew Bunga at their usual table.

"Hey Bunga, how are things?" Timon asked.

"Oh Hi Uncle Timon, nothing much, I've just been on the main floor security desk all day. So far nothing interesting, except for one time in which these two kids threw a temper tantrum because they were waiting in line for twenty minutes." Bunga replied.

"Ugh don't get me started on kids having temper tantrums, I work at the kids' and family play lab and so far today I have seen four temper tantrums, six babies crying, two kids fighting over a toy and one kid wet their pants." Timon replied in an irritated tone.

"Yikes! Looks like you got the mother load of angry kids today." Bunga said.

"Tell me about it, sometimes I blame it on human parenting methods. Some of these children are so sheltered and pampered, meanwhile I raised both you and Simba in an actual jungle and you guys turned out just fine." Timon said.

"I l know, I feel like after going from Lion Guard to museum security guard,I can handle anything now. Oh and by the way, can I borrow four hundred dollars? my car got towed again, parked it to close to the fire hydrant." Bunga said while Timon had a look of irritation on his face.

"Again? That's like the fifth time this year." Timon said.

"I swear I followed the law, I remembered to park at least fifteen inches a away from the fire hydrant." Bunga said, trying to defend himself.

"Bunga, the rule is at least fifteen FEET from a fire hydrant, not inches.I'll give you the money this time but next time you ever get yourself into a situation like this, I won't be bailing you out." Timon said getting a little more tense after each word, while he signs a check to give to Bunga.

"Geez Timon, what has gotten into you, you have just been pretty stressed all week, what's going on?" Bunga said, showing some signs of concern. Timon then turns his head towards him.

"I sorry Bunga, yeah, I've been pretty stressed lately because outside of work, something big is happening to me, I know you probably won't like it, but I need to tell you." Timon said, starting to gain a little more composure, even developing an excited expression on his face.

"Oh okay, what's the news?" Bunga said as he starts to gain interest.

"So, things have been really well with Gary and since we've been dating for four years, I think that it is appropriate to move on to the next phase of our relationship, so the news is …. Gary is moving in with me." Timon said excitedly and after saying that, Bunga's expression changed from being engaged to looking almost hopeless.

"Oh...so you and Gary will be living together?...okay." Bunga said in an obviously unenthusiastic tone.

"Oh Bunga, what's wrong with Gary? He's a really nice guy. He's generous, he's considerate, open-minded…" Timon was saying until Bunga interrupted.

"He's boring, he's bland..." Bunga said with a hint of irritation.

"So maybe hotel management might not be the most exciting career, it doesn't matter, what matters is that I love him and I want to be with him." Timon said.

"But you already had something special...with Puumba, it seems like you are just using Gary to replace Pumbaa and I don't feel comfortable with that." Bunga said in a more elevated tone.

"Oh my goodness Bunga, how many times do I have to fucking tell you, I am not using Gary to replace Pumbaa. Puumba will never be replaced and I will always cherish the memories I had with him. But he's been dead for twenty one years and I cannot wait until I die to find something like that again. Just try to understand that I love Gary and it doesn't matter whether you like him or not because you have no control of how I live my life. I know that you still miss Puumba but try to at least tolerate Gary and even when if it may bother you a little bit, you know what I say…" Timon said while gesturing to Bunga still with an unenthused look on his face.

"Ugh...Hakuna Matata." Bunga said with very little enthusiasm.

"Yep, eventually you'll get use to Gary hanging out with us more frequently." Timon said eventually stopping to continue eating their lunches.

At a table nearby, Muhimu and Twiga were taking their lunch break from the information desk, but unlike Timon and Bunga, they were halfway finished with their lunches.

"Oh Muhimu, I forgot to ask you, how was your Tinder date last night?" Twiga said.

"To be honest, it was a disaster. The guy I got match up with was fifteen minutes to begin with, then he kept showing me photos of his motorcycle and that was before I transformed into my zebra-hybrid form. After I did, he basically got shocked and nervous because I was an anthropomorphic zebra walking on two feet and he never seen it before. He then basically told me he had to cut the date short because he had a 'thing', but I knew there was no thing and I saw him run away." Muhimu replied.

"My goodness, I am so sorry to hear that Muhimu…." Twiga said as Muhimu interrupted her.

"Oh I'm not even finished yet, I eventually decided to check out the guy's name on Instagram and turns out he's married with three children, so I decided to get a little revenge by sending a DM to his wife's account along with the picture of her husband's Tinder page." Muhimu said, gaining a little enthusiasm by the end of the story.

"Damn Muhimu, next time I want to plan revenge on someone, I'll definitely come to you and I will not mess with you anytime soon." Twiga said.

"Thanks, I love it when some of my lesser known talents get noticed. So how did your date go?" Muhimu then asked.

"Oh it actually went off to a pretty good start, we talked a little bit and even after my transformation, he didn't go away, in fact, he was a little attracted to my giraffe-hybrid form. We even made out with him for a little bit, though I haven't heard back from him yet and I sent him a text like five hours ago." Twiga said.

"Ugh that has happened to me a couple of times, but on the other hand he could just be busy." Muhimu replied.

"I suppose you're right Muhimu, because look… our own children are so busy with their lives, we haven't really heard from the in almost a week." Twiga said.

"Yeah, I guess grad school and part-time work at a psychologist's office can be pretty busy for Hamu." Muhimu said as Twiga started to develop a slightly depressed expression since Muhimu's response made her think of the lack of contact with her own daughter Juhudi.

"Yeah, but sometimes I get concerned too because Juhudi has adapted so quickly to human life that she seems to be forgetting her life the Pride Lands. For example, the last time I talked with her on the phone and she is starting to forget what her father looked-like. She can remember half of Franz's Schubert's pieces on violin, but she forgets several details about the place she was born. Should I get concerned Muhimu?" Twiga asked.

"The father thing maybe a little concerning, but I guess everything else is just part of moving on because I've noticed similar things with Hamu, but it's probably because when we first became hybrids, our children first transformed to human age five even when they were adolescents in pure animal form, and five is usually a very impressionable age for humans. On the bright side, at least none of our children think of the trauma during the drought anymore so they at least moved on." Muhimu said as the two were getting up from the table with their finished lunches.

"I guess you're right Muhimu, perhaps we should at least be happy that they no longer have nightmares of the deaths and despair of the drought." Twiga replies as both begin to walk out of the hallway.

"Now that's the spirit, Twiga." Muhimu replied. As they walked in the hallway, they continued to talk to each other about everyday matters and then they saw Tiffu approaching their path.

"Hi guys, how's it going?" Tiffu said with a slightly enthusiastic tone.

"We're fine, just heading back to our shifts. You?" Muhimu said.

"I'm fine, just getting something from the vending machine. But before I do, I need to tell you guys something and trust me...it's something juicy" Tiffu said.

"Really? What is it?" Twiga asked out of curiosity.

Meanwhile, the group of genetics researchers, fossil preparators and Beshte were on their way back to their shifts from lunch and two of them, Edwin and Makini were in a bit of a debate.

"So Edwin I'm telling you that overall that valine is the best amino acid." Makini said.

"Oh please, valine may cause steric crowding and contribute to collagen structure but other than that it's just another nonpolar amino acid. If you want the best amino it's clearly lysine." Edwin said.

"Lysine? It's just a straight line and the only thing keeping it interesting is that charged amino group, which questions it's stability." Makini said.

"But at the right pH, the charged amino is what makes it interesting because at basic pHs it can be protonated and participate in ionic interactions. Even when it is deprotonated with just the right compounds, its function in the polypeptide could be interfered by hydrogen bonds, how is that not interesting?" Edwin said.

"You may have your opinions, but I still think valine is the best amino acid." Makini said with a smirk.

"Do you guys have these debates often?" Jasiri asked the two geneticists.

"Sometimes but we never really have incredibly tense debates or anything like that." Edwin replies.

"Yeah it's mostly just about silly stuff, like how this guy thinks adenine is the best nitrogenous base when it is clearly guanine." Makini said, with Edwin having a slight look of annoyance on his face.

"Come on, this again? For the tenth time-" Edwin says before Makuu couldn't hold it back anymore.

"Alright I can't believe I'm saying this but can we please just continue going back to work. I've been listening to this debate for half an hour.

They just decide to continue their path as they were interrupted by someone interjecting.

"No way!" A female voice called.

"Are you swear this is true?!" A second voice said.

The group turned around to see that it was just Tiffu talking to Muhimu and Twiga.

"I wonder what they are talking about?" Beshte said.

"I don't know, probably some kind of shit outside of work." Vuruga said before the group headed up the stairs back to their respective work spaces. While Tiffu continued to talk to Muhimu and Twiga.

"I swear I heard it from a reliable source." Tiffu said.

"I can't believe that this kind of thing will happen." Twiga said.

"But to be honest is it really that surprising?" Muhimu said.

For the past five hours after their lunch, Edwin and the rest of the genetics team have been working on their individual tasks for one of their research projects. Edwin assisted in conducting Sanger sequencing techniques of several strands of lichen genetic material and now he was entering his data through a chromatogram to get visual data of each of the experimental sequences. Soon enough, it was 5:30 PM and Edwin was finished for the day, gathering his bag and hung up his lab coat in his office and proceeded. He then went to Ma Tembo's office, lightly knocked on her door.

"It's open!" Ma Tembo said. So Edwin slightly opened the door to peak inside.

"Oh hi Edwin, how can I help you?" Ma Tembo asked.

"Oh nothing really, just letting you know I'm leaving for the day plus I was wondering if you received the draft of my section of the paper we are working on?" Edwin said.

"Oh yes I did, so far it looks good and I recently sent you some suggestions on how to make it better." Ma Tembo said.

"Okay, I'll get to it immediately, see you tomorrow!" Edwin replies.

"See you tomorrow!" Ma Tembo said as Edwin headed out of the office and towards the laboratory exit.

As Edwin walks towards the laboratory, he takes out his phone to check the time, it's 5:35 and as he walks towards the staircase he spots Jasiri, who is leaving from the fossil lab nearby. As he first sees her he starts to go deep in though.

"_Perhaps this is the right time to ask her. I mean it will be just casual, I'm just going to ask her to have some tea with me Saturday night, it's not like I'm proposing to her on the spot. Don't worry about this Edwin, this is a good time and you'll be fine, if the date goes well, it could be the start of a great relationship and if not and you get friendzoned, then you could remain friends. Just don't worry about this Edwin just do it already" _Edwin thought to himself.

Edwin soon approached Jasiri's path and just walked casually towards the stairs as she was.

"Hey Jasiri!" Edwin said, which managed to get her attention.

"Oh hey Edwin, how's it going?" She replied.

"Oh nothing much, just finished for the day so I'm just catching the Red Line. How about you?" Edwin said.

"Same, today has been exhausting." Jasiri said.

"I know, I had so much to do with my lichen genetics study, its paper and assisting the interns with their tasks. I know how you feel." Edwin replied.

"On the bright side, Makuu hasn't yelled at any of our interns for two weeks and that's a new record" Jasiri said, letting out a laugh from the both of them. They continued to walk down the stairs until they walked outside of the museum and as they were walking out of the museum, Edwin started to become a little nervous.

"_What are you doing, man? This is your chance, now's the time!_" He thought to himself.

"So Jasiri… uhhh... we've known each other for almost two months already, time sure passes by fast doesn't it?" Edwin said nervously as they continued to walk on the sidewalk.

"I know, it really does. I'm surprised by it every time" Jasiri replies.

"...and we've hung out several times already So anyway uhhh…" Edwin said while making an awkward pause.

"_Don't mess this up…"_ Edwin thought to himself as the butterflies were pounding in his stomach.

"So anyway I was wondering… do you… want to go out with me… for tea on Saturday night?" Edwin said taking a breath after the last part.

After hearing this, Jasiri was intrigued, but on the inside she was feeling a combination of flattered and apprehensive because she hasn't been on the dating scene in a while. She then begins to think that based on what she has seen, Edwin seems different from they guys she has seen since leaving the Outlands. She thought that he could potentially help her finally move on from Janja after all of these years. But before she could respond, one question peaked in her mind.

"Edwin, are you asking me on a date?" She asked.

"Yes...uh I mean maybe… wait… Yes, I'm asking you on a date." Edwin said. This response caused Jasiri to have this tingly feeling across her body, but eventually she gave out a slight smile.

"Then in that case… I would love to go with you Saturday night…where do you exactly have in mind?" Jasiri replied.

Edwin was feeling excited, nervous and relieved all at the same time, but now he's just trying to gain the energy to answer the question while they arrived at the Roosevelt Red Line stop.

"Well I know of this great tea place on Argyle and I was thinking I can pick you up at your place at around six Saturday, drive you there and possibly get to know each other anymore." Edwin replies, but the immediately Jasiri turned her head towards him.

"Wait? Are you sure you want it at six? Because you know, Argyle is a little far from my neighborhood and for when it gets dark out… you know...aren't you afraid getting stares or people getting scared of me after I transform into my hyena form?" Jasiri said with a hint of nervousness she said as she swiped her Ventra card.

"What are talking about, I don't care what some random people may think. Look… I learned from a young age to not care what other people think. I'm going through my own shit and had more important stuff to do, so why should I add more stress from people I don't even know. I want to go out with you for you, whether it is hyena, human or whatever. So do you still want me to pick you up at six?" Edwin said.

Jasiri feeling both flattered and surprised, she has heard very few full humans who have said that to her.

"Yes, six sounds great. Let me send you my address so you know where to pick me up." She said as she took out her phone as they were waiting for the train.

"Okay great, if I don't see you at lunch tomorrow, I guess I'll see you Saturday at six." Edwin said as the train arrived.

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it." She said as they entered the train.

Even when Jasiri is genuinely looking forward to seeing Edwin on Saturday, she has this uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach. Even though part of it was due to the uncertainty, there was another part that she just couldn't figure it out. Was it anxiety, was it some kind of discomfort, was it guilt. She had no idea what it was but either way she thought that she will just wait and see how this date with Edwin goes.

As they arrived at the Jackson stop, they looked at each other as the train doors opened and the intercom blared.

_This is Jackson. Doors open on the left at Jackson._

They both walked out of the train and each began to walk up the stairs until they reached the platform.

"See you later, Jasiri!" Edwin said.

"See ya Edwin!" Jasiri replied as they both went their separate ways.

Jasiri went up a flight of stairs to reach ground level to catch a bus home, while Edwin went down a flight of stairs to walk a pathway that goes to the Blue Line.

Edwin was feeling great, he was on top of the world. He was both surprised yet ecstatic that Jasiri said yes to him. He eventually decided to let his hair down after undoing his ponytail.

He was just thinking of the possibilities that could stem from this future date with Jasiri. It could grow into a relationship, but it could end with them just being friends. He would be fine with either outcome, though he honestly hopes for the former. The possibilities are endless….. But first, he needs to look at Ma Tembo's suggestions for the lichen genome research paper.


	17. Chapter 17: Lights Along Argyle Street

Edwin P.O.V:

It has been a whole day since I asked out Jasiri, I am still shocked that she said yes. I didn't really think that she would say yes to a date with me. I am both excited and nervous for tomorrow night because even when I am excited, I'm really nervous that I will screw this up.

Even when I still did my tasks at work efficiently, I was still a little distracted thinking about the date. I even-zoned out in many conversations when I had lunch with my colleagues at the cafe.

While I ate my food, I kept thinking about how this date would possibly go. It could end up being great, but it could end up a disaster. We could end up in a relationship,but we could also end up remaining friends. I just don't hope I don't spill anything like on the last date I was ever on.

"Edwin!? Hello? Earth to Edwin?!" a voice called. I turned my head to see that it was Makini calling me, looking a little irritated.

"Oh hey Makini, what's going on?" I replied casually.

"I've been talking about my self-defense class for like five minutes and through all that time, your head has been in the clouds the whole time. You've also seem pensive almost all day, is there something going on Edwin?" Makini asked.

I was a little nervous because through text message, Jasiri and I promised that we wouldn't really tell anyone we know about our date because we did not want anyone to make a big deal about it and if I know anything about Makini, she makes a big deal about EVERYTHING and we don't want attention drawn to ourselves. So I have to come up with a quick excuse.

"Oh nothing, it's just that I recently received my water bill and it was a little higher than normal and I was wondering what I did that caused it to increase." I said, just hoping that they would believe it.

"Oh okay, I totally understand, sometimes I feel the same way about rent." Makini replied.

I turned to see that Jasiri nodded at me, most likely indicating she's satisfied with the bill excuse. Soon Makuu turned his head towards the group.

"I guess bills or rent are coming for people all over the city because Jasiri has been acting a little pensive today as well." Makuu said in an inquisitive tone.

"Yeah, my electric bill recently came and it was a little high, so I'm trying to think of ways to cut back on electricity in my apartment." She said, trying to keep things casual and just looked at me briefly before turning back to the rest of the group.

Then for some reason, Vuruga started to laugh a little bit.

"It's kind of funny thinking about it that almost twenty one years ago, we didn't knew what electricity was and we drank water directly from a watering hole and now we can't imagine life ever going back to that." She said.

"I know, it's crazy, who would have ever thought it." Makini said.

After that, the rest of the day was pretty much routine, after I finished my day at work, I basically laid out the clothes I am going to wear for my date with Jasiri tomorrow night. I've just been nervous lately because this is going to be my first date in a long time and I just hope that I don't screw this up.

BEEP….BEEP….BEEP….BEEP…..BEEP…..BEEP…..BEEP….BEEP….BEEP….BEEP

I woke up from my 5:00 morning alarm, even when it's Saturday, I still had some stuff to do before I pick up Jasiri tonight.

After going through my usual morning shower, shave and hygiene routine, I got dressed in a casual jean and t-shirt while I laid my clothes for tonight out on my bed.

After preparing myself a small breakfast, I headed out to do some errands I've been meaning to do. I went to the Blue Line stop across the street to put more money on my Ventra card, after that I bought some groceries for my apartment, fixed the chain on my bicycle and dusted nearly every surface of my apartment thoroughly.

As the hours went by, I finally finished what I needed to get finished for the day. I checked the time on my phone and saw that it was 3:30 in the afternoon. With only two and a half hours to get ready for my date, I made a B-line to the shower because I am covered with sweat and dust from all the cleaning I did today. As soon as I got out of the shower, I headed towards my bed to look at the clothes that I'm going to wear tonight. It was just a business casual ensemble consisting of a sky blue button down shirt and black dress pants.

As I was getting dressed, I heard a ding from my phone and I went over to my nightstand to look at what it was and I saw it was a text from Beshte. It says:

"_Hi Edwin, how's it going? Do you have any plans for tonight?"_

I replied: "_Hey Beshte, I'm good, I actually have a date tonight." _and then I pressed send.

After that I continued to get dressed and before I could put on my socks, I heard another ding on my phone and I saw that Beshte replied back.

"_Oh okay, nice. But I thought you said that you had feelings for Jasiri."_

I texted back: "_My date is with Jasiri, I asked her out a few days ago. I'm still surprised she said yes." _and pressed send.

As I finished putting my socks on, Beshte replied back:

"_Congrats! I'm sure it will be great, Jasiri's a great person so don't be nervous. Best of luck!_"

After that, I just decided to go down to check my email before I left. So I went over to my laptop, logged in and I saw that I received six e-mails over the past couple of hours.

Three of them were just advertisements so I just ignored them, another one was just a reminder to RSVP to my ten-year high school reunion, which is something I already did. Another is just a notice from Mr. Charles that the walls of the hallways will be repainted within two weeks. While another caught my attention….it was an email from my sister Katrina.

It was a shock, I haven't heard from Katrina in months, so I opened the email and read it:

_Hi Ed,_

_I know it's been a while since we last talked with each other, but I want to know how things are going? Me you know how my work is, same old-same old, and I'm currently in Manilla for business. I saw that on your Instagram you now work at the Field Museum? Congrats for you, though I know this congradulations is two months late. Anyway, I'm happy for you and I hope you are doing well because you seemed miserable at your previous job at the pharmaceutical company. I hope we get to talk more frequently, have a good week!_

_Kat_

It's kind of nice to hear from her again because there are some times I wish we could reconnect more often, but our busy schedules prevent us from doing so. So I just replied to her email very casual way:

_Hey Kat,_

_I hope you are enjoying Manilla, don't forget to send me some pics. Things are going well fot me and yes, I am enjoying my job in the genetics at Field Museum, it's so much more rewarding than my job at Genico, most of the people there only cared about getting big bonuses rather than the research itself. I'm also still shocked that it has been around ten years since I graduated high school. Also I agree, we should contact each other more often, it's been a while since we had a legitimate conversation. Anyway, have a good trip in Manilla!_

_Edwin_

After replying to that email, I put away my laptop in my nightstand drawer. I then grabbed my phone, wallet and keys to place them in my pockets, along with a little cash in my other pocket just in case I lose my wallet.

As soon as I got myself together, I soon left my apartment, went down the three flights of stairs and left the building to go to where I parked my car. I found my black Honda four-door sedan just where I parked it last time, again cleaning up the dust on my dashboard as I got in.

I turned on the ignition, but then I saw the gauge on my car that says I only have a quarter of a tank of gas left. So I decided that I'm going to get gas along the way. I eventually typed Jasiri's address into my phone and placed my phone next to me so I can listen to the directions as I drive.

I drove a couple of blocks along Milwaukee Avenue until I reached a gas station to pay to fill up my tank, and paid $25 to fill up my tank. I left the gas station to go back on my route to Jasiri's place.

The rest of the drive mostly consists of what I have normally seen in Chicago at around 5:30 PM on a Saturday, just on the street either heading home from work or to other places to have a good time later on tonight. But on the other hand, this also has caused quite a bit of traffic. While I'm waiting for the traffic to clear up a little bit, I began to continuously look at the area around me and I see that even when it is still light out, the sky is starting to turn a lighter tint of blue with some yellowish hues when looking at the lower areas of the sky.

Eventually, after like 20 minutes, traffic passed by smoothly and within five minutes of getting out of the traffic, I arrived at the address Jasiri gave me and I pulled up in front of the entrance of the apartment building. I then took my phone to send Jasiri a text I am here. Within only a second after sending that text, Jasiri sent me one asking "_Hey Edwin, are you close?_"

After receiving the text, I immediately replied back, saying "_I'm actually here, if you come down, I am in the Black Honda in front of your building._"

I put my phone down and decided to play around with the radio to see if there are any good stations, but so far there is nothing really good and I just decided to stick with the Top 40s station I was already on.

Then I heard a knocking on my passenger side window, I turned around to see that it was Jasiri, so I unlocked my passenger door and as she came in, I noticed that she was wearing a purple blouse with some small blue prints on it along with black pants.

"Hi Edwin, how's it going?" Jasiri said with her usually upbeat tone.

"I'm good, how about you, are you ready for our date?" I responded calmly.

"Yeah, I'm excited to get to know you a bit more, oh and try out that tea place you told me about. Where is it again?" Jasiri said.

"Oh it's on Argyle, close to the corner of Argyle and Broadway, so maybe around an hour considering the usual traffic that's usually around on Saturdays at this time." I said.

Jasiri let out a little laugh, but there seems to be an almost nervous expression on her face.

"Is everything alright Jasiri?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, everything is fine, it's just that… on the way to the tea place, could we make a possible stop along the way?" Jasiri asked.

"Sure, no problem, what for?" I replied.

"Oh it's just that when I… transform to my hyena form, I would rather do it at a point where the car is not moving because the last time that I transformed in a moving vehicle, I threw up in my now former roommate's back seat, as well as chipping a few of my claws too. So anyway, is there a chance we could stop by a parking lot when it starts to get a little darker so that I can transform?" Jasiri asked.

"Yeah, sure, just tell me when you feel that you are about to transform and I will park at the nearest place possible." I replied. After I responded, I started to see the expression on Jasiri's face light up a little bit.

"Good, thank you Edwin, I'll make sure to tell you on the way." Jasiri said.

After that we started our drive to the tea place. During the duration, we just casually conversed with each other about work, life and other topics. We got stuck in a slight traffic jam, but it wasn't painfully long before we got out.

We were twenty minutes from the tea place when we noticed that it was starting to get dark out, I guess that traffic jam must have taken more time than I expected. But as I was driving, I saw that Jasiri had a slightly nervous expression on her face again.

"Hey Edwin, would it be okay if we tried to find a place to stop now?" She asked.

"Okay sure no problem." I replied. I eventually saw that we are approaching a grocery store, so I decided that this would be a good place to make a good stop.

As I was making a turn to go into the parking lot, I heard Jasiri was starting to groan a little bit.

"Uhh Edwin...could you please try to park somewhere quick-...aghh...I think it's time." Jasiri said anxiously.

"Oh okay sure, let me just find a parking spot first." I quickly replied while I just parked at the first spot I saw. Sure, it wasn't the straightest parking job I have done, but I don't really have to to correct that right now because Jasiri was starting to feel more pain, as I got in the car, I immediately stopped and even unlocked the back doors.

"If you want Jasiri, you can move to the backseat if it's more comfortable, I just unlocked the doors." I said.

"Really? Thanks!" Jasiri quickly replied as she quickly exited the passenger side to make a b-line to the backseat.

After she got to the backseat, I heard that her groaning started to intensify until the point at which she was screaming in pain and I started to get concerned so I wanted to check on her. When I took a peak I saw that she was laying on her side in a fetal position while I was seeing what almost looked like a tail coming out of her back.

"Hey Jasiri! Are you okay? Do you want me to get something from the sto-" I asked before being she started to look at me with a look that seems like a combination of nervousness and assurance. I also saw that a little fur was starting to grow on her face and the tip of her nose was starting to turn black.

"No thanks, I don't need anything at the store and I'm just fine thank you, I told you that I do this every night." She quickly replied.

"Okay.." I said as I turned away to give her some more privacy.

While Jasiri's transformation continued, a Shawn Mendes song was playing from my car radio. It's kind of funny that the song that was playing in the car is called "There's Nothing Holding Me Back" when all of this is going down in a random grocery store parking lot. Sure, it might have felt a little awkward at first, but I think I really connect with Jasiri at both work and during our occasional jogs together, so I think that the awkwardness will be worth it in the long term.

After what I believed was five minutes, the groaning and screaming came to a halt. I then heard the back door open and close within ten seconds. After which I decided to lock the back doors and unlock the passenger seat for Jasiri to get back in. As I heard the passenger side door open, and when I looked towards the door, I once again saw her in her hyena form. Even when it is the second time I have seen it, In my mind I was still fascinated on how within ten minutes, she has transformed from human to an anthropomorphic hyena. Don't get me wrong she's still pretty attractive, I guess I just still have some questions in my mind about the whole hybrid thing, but I'll save those for another time.

After hearing the passenger side door shut, I then turned my attention back to my dashboard to check my mirrors and then I turned my attention back to Jasiri.

"Hey Jasiri, are you feeling okay?" I asked.

"Yes, I feel much better Edwin, thank you. Also thanks so much for being so understanding about me being hybrid and for stopping the car for me to transform." Jasiri said in a more enthusiastic and relaxed tone.

"No problem, it's nothing really. So are you still ready to go to the tea place?" I asked.

"Yeah, definitely!" Jasiri said.

"Okay, let's get back to our route there then." I replied.

I then gently pressed on my gas pedal and drove out of the parking lot to start driving towards the tea place again.

It was a relatively quick twenty minute drive to the tea place and there was very little traffic. Although Jasiri did feel a little numb since she was sitting on her tail during the drive. Soon we arrived at the tea place, and I parked a block away from the place.

As we got out of my car, I could not help noticing how beautiful the lights along Argyle Street. It almost seems as if the neighborhood itself was trying to send us a message. After our short walk, Jasiri and I finally arrived at the tea place, it was this charming little Black building in which three rectangular windows stood prominently to the left of the main entrance below the squares of black tile that construct the building's edifice. Through the windows we can see multiple plant pots hanging from the ceiling, with each plot streaming down long streams of leaves, combining to make a botanical arch to welcome all those who come inside. There were also some potted plants on the floor to add to the vibe of the place. We walked inside to see that only around five other customers in the restaurant. We started to look around the place and we saw that there were shelves that contained cameras that looked decades old, even a century old in one case. I was intrigued to see an old sewing machine in the far corner of the restaurant, but what caught my interest the most was that around the register and kitchen there were dozens of tea cups hanging around above the counters attached to steel cords. After looking around the place, we then looked at the chalkboard menu to determine what we are going to order.

"Aw man, all this sounds so good Edwin, I literally have no idea what I am going to order." Jasiri said.

"Me neither, I guess I'm just going to pick something I've never had before and try something new. So I guess, I'll order the jasmine and roasted rice tea. What about you Jasiri?" I replied.

"Well, now that I think about it I do like lavender, so I think I will get some roasted lavender tea." She replied.

Soon after that we just walked up to the counter to order our drinks. The cashier who was walking towards up was wearing a black t-shirt, black pants and her short black hair in a ponytail. Her eyes were pretty much glued to a notepad, when she started to raise her head a little bit.

"Hello there, my name is Anh, I am your cashier and server for this evening may I take your uhhh?" The cashier said as she raised her head and then immediately became startled when she looked at Jasiri in her current form, I turned my head towards Jasiri and saw that she is starting to develop a visibly uncomfortable expression on her face. I'm starting to feel a little guilty because I never wanted her to feel uncomfortable, so I decided to check on her.

"Um Jasiri, are you okay?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine, can we just tell them our orders already?..." She replied, soon turning back to the cashier. "I'll have a roasted lavender tea".

"Okay sure, I'll have a hot jasmine and roasted rice tea…" I replied, and soon noticed that Anh was still staring at Jasiri. "Uh excuse me, what are you looking at?" I said.

"Oh nothing… uhhh … I was just looking at a stain on her shirt." Ahn replied, which caused Jasiri to look at her shirt briefly.

"Oh, uh thanks, I'll wash it later." Jasiri replied. Despite her looking at her shirt, I'm sure she was just trying to avoid confrontation with the cashier because I didn't see a stain anywhere.

"Okay, that'll be $14.95, I'll call you up to the table to my right when your orders are ready."

"Okay thanks" I said

"Thanks." Jasiri said, as we both gave Anh our money for our individual orders, after which we soon took seats at a nearby table.

"Jasiri, I'm so sorry for a few seconds ago, I had no idea that the cashier was going to act like that and…" I said before Jasiri began to speak.

"Edwin...It's okay, I've been used to behaviors like that for almost twenty one years and based on things that were previously said and done to me, that was nothing." Jasiri quite, with her even starting to form a small smile on her face.

"Okay, so… how's work going?" I said, trying to break the ice.

"It's going great, our team is in the process of preparing the specimens of those Ordovician period Orthoceras specimens our archaeology team found six months ago. I think our interns are really starting to get the hang of it. Makuu hasn't yelled at anyone or made them cry in three weeks, so that's a new record. How about you? How are things in the genetics lab going?" Jasiri said.

"Oh it's pretty interesting, we are still doing research on the effects of environmental conditions on the genomes of certain species of lichen. We are currently doing some SDS-PAGE, agar gel electrophoresis and Sanger sequencing techniques to further investigate some of these conditions. We are also working on a paper which discusses our research with one of the species of lichens, and we're hoping to publish that research." I replied.

"Wow, that actually sounds really cool." Jasiri said.

"Thanks, yours does too! I've always been fascinated by the fossils everytime I went to the museum as a child and in many cases I am still fascinated by them." I said.

"Thanks, I'm just curious, you've been working with us for almost two months, so are you liking the team you are working with?" Jasiri asked.

"Absolutely, Ma Tembo is an excellent supervisor and we have a lot in common, Vuruga is an incredibly trustworthy partner and incredibly thorough, Pete is always the one you turn to for a good laugh, Makini's a little quirky but she's cool anyway, and Bupu's alright though he is a little closed off in some cases. So what's it like working with Makuu?" I asked.

"Oh it's good, when you are on his good side, he is an excellent person to prep fossils with and he can be quite a perfectionist. But if you get on his bad side, then he can be stubborn and temperamental." Jasiri said.

"Oh yeah, I overheard some of my lab's interns mention that they have friends interning in your lab and I heard similar things about Makuu.I guess that gossip really does travel fast at the museum." I replied, after which we both started to laugh a little bit.

"Speaking of, I heard something from Makuu earlier this week which you might be interested in." Jasiri said with a little bit of intrigue in her voice.

"Really? What exactly did he tell you?" I asked.

"Well you know the president of the museum… Simba Furahi?" She said.

"Yeah… what about him?" I replied.

"Well based on what Makuu told me, he is cheating on his wife Nala with one of his interns." Jasiri said.

"No way! Are you joking? because they seemed to be doing just fine when I saw them at the gala a few weeks ago." I replied a little surprised and intrigued myself.

"I'm not joking, this is real. Makuu told me that Zazu saw him making out with some intern named Melinda in his office." Jasiri said.

"So Zazu told Makuu directly after the incident happened?" I asked.

"Well not exactly. From what I heard, Zazu first told Ono about it, who told Anga, who told Fuli, who told Vitani, who for some reason told a Romanian tourist, who told Tiffu, who told Muhimu and Twiga, who told Rafiki, who told Makuu, who told me and then here we are with me telling you. When I first heard it I was kind of shocked because they seemed so put together back in the Pride Lands, I guess people can drastically change over a period of 20 years." Jasiri replied.

"Yeah, sometimes marriages can end up like that. Like my parents for example, from what I heard they got along well in the early years of their marriage, but after a while it all started to fall apart and tried to keep it together for my sister and I but we both knew what was going, which went on until they finally divorced. Though I am a little curious about how the Romanian tourist got in the mix." I said, which made Jasiri laugh a little.

"Yeah, I'm curious about that too." Jasiri said. After a minute, a bell rang and I saw Ahn bring out two teacups to the counter.

"Order number 650, roasted lavender tea and a hot jasmine and roasted rice tea!" She yelled.

The two of us just rose to get our orders. After walking to the counter and picking up our orders, we carefully returned to our seats.

As we sat down, something occurred in my mind that I wanted to tell Jasiri something but I forgot what it was.

"So Jasiri, I can't wait for you to try this tea, I initially had my doubts when I first tried it but it ended up being the best tea that I ever tried in my-" I was saying until what I wanted to say suddenly popped back in my mind when Jasiri's lips were an inch away from her tea.

"Oh wait I should probably warn you that you might want to-" I was saying until Jasiri let out a slight grunt, after which she grabbed a napkin and placed it on her tongue.

"-let the tea cool down for a little bit because it can be pretty hot when it is freshly prepared. Are you okay?" I finished the latter half of my phrase.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine, I guess after living among humans for twenty one years, I still need to get used to hot beverages." Jasiri said, letting out a nervous laugh.

"It's okay, I totally understand. Sometimes I have a similar adjustment process with caffeinated beverages and don't get me started on alcohol, after trying beer once, I found out that I'm actually allergic to barley so the only alcohol I really drink is a glass of wine on certain occasions." I said.

"I know, I still don't don't get why you humans drink alcohol, it tastes horrible." She replied.

"Exactly, whenever I socialize with my friends at events that involve alcohol, at least one of them gets drunk and I have to practically babysit them for the rest of the night." I replied, after which we laughed a little bit, though I seem to notice that Jasiri had a slightly nervous laugh.

We eventually started drinking our tea once it cooled down, during which we had three more minutes of casual conversation.

"Hey Edwin, you are right about the tea, it's really good." Jasiri said as she placed her cup down.

"Well, I am glad you are enjoying it, so anyway I'm just curi-" I was saying until I accidentally hit my hand against my tea cup and accidentally spilled some of my tea on the table.

I immediately grabbed some napkins I had and even Jasiri was starting to grab some as well.

"I'm so sorry Jasiri, I can be such a clutz sometimes." I said while wiping down the table to clean up my spill.

"It's okay, it's just a spill, there are far worse things than a-" Jasiri said but then paused.

She started to look down, which made me look in her direction… and we saw that both of our hands were touching each other. I'm guessing that we grabbed them accidentally thinking they were the napkins we were using. We looked into each other's eyes and I started to develop this tingling feeling in my body, but all I did was continue to stare into her deep indigo eyes. We continued to stare at each other for almost a minute but I saw that Jasiri was starting to become visibly nervous and walked away to throw away her used napkins.

"Jasiri, are you okay?" I asked.

"Oh no I'm fine, I just realized that I need to meet up with my …. uhhh therapist to catch up with something we were discussing last week. So I'm just going to go and catch the Red Line to go there and thanks for the tea." Jasiri said as she was grabbing her bag. While she was doing that, I began to feel guilty that I made her feel uncomfortable.

"Oh okay, are you sure because I can drive you there if you want?" I said to try to help her with this sudden anxiety.

"I'm sure Edwin, I'll be fine and again thanks for the tea. Bye Edwin." Jasiri quickly said as she left the restaurant, while flashing an awkward smile.

"Okaay… Bye Jasiri." I said..

After she left the restaurant, I started to think that it was unusual that she had a meeting with her therapist because she told me that she usually meets her therapist on Thursdays. But then it hit me, there's the possibility that she didn't leave to see her therapist...she must have left to avoid me. I admit that the hand thing was a total accident but I felt some sort of connection between us and I couldn't define what it was. I guess that might have accidentally been coming on too strong for a first date and must have unintentionally made Jasiri feel uncomfortable. I then just realized that I might have made her more uncomfortable by taking her to a restaurant in which she was being stared at by both the cashiers and a few other customers. Now I'm feeling really guilty about making Jasiri feel distressed this evening.

"Man, what was I thinking? I can't believe I'm just realizing this now. I really like her and all I did was drive her away" I said to myself.

I then proceeded to facepalm myself on the forehead.

"I'm a fucking idiot. Why am I such a fucking idiot when it comes to dating." I said to myself, and I remained at the restaurant before I finally left.


	18. Chapter 18: Inner Doubts

Third Person P.O.V

It was two days after Jasiri and Edwin's date and both of them have not really contacted each other since. Actually Edwin did send three text messages apologizing for any way he could have made the date unintentionally awkward but so far he received no response yet.

Both of them decided to try to only focus on work to try to make themselves forget that night. It did not take long for each of their colleagues to notice these behaviors.

During their lunch break, the group of colleagues from both the Genetics and Fossil lab, plus Beshte, started to notice the absence of their two friends. Makuu turned his head towards the seat in which Edwin usually sits and became curious.

"Hey guys, have you seen Mariani anywhere? Is he out sick today or something?" Makuu asked.

"Oh, Edwin said he wanted to review some results from some of the chromatogram results of some of our lichen genome samples to make sure they were properly collected and prepared, and he also wanted to help out at cleaning some of our lab equipment." Vuruga said.

"Hmm...That's funny, Jasiri said something very similar with some of our fossil x-rays and the same thing about cleaning some of our equipment." Makuu said with an inquisitive tone.

While the group of friends continued to eat, two floors above them, Edwin just finished double checking the chromatographs and began to clean all of the beakers in a supply cabinet. While he was doing this, Ma Tembo was observing this behavior and was confused whether to be concerned or intrigued that Edwin has a sudden interest in cleaning the equipment. Even when she knows he is organized and detailed-oriented with his work, but not at the obsessive level of cleaning the unused equipment. After looking at him for a minute, she decided to go back into her office.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the building, Jasiri was voraciously scrubbing some of her equipment in the sink, washing and drying each tool with an intricate amount of detail. One of her interns, a young man with short brown hair, walked in to see Jasiri cleaning her equipment and became curious.

"Hi Dr. Fisi,do you need any help cleaning that equipment?" The intern said.

"No Yosef, I'm fine. You can just wait at your station until further instruction." Jasiri said with a slight hint of irritation in her voice.

"Okay, no problem." Yosef said with a slight hint of nervousness in his voice as he returned to his research station.

This routine continued for Edwin and Jasiri for another three days, with slight changes in each of their behavior being noticeable among both of their colleagues and even a few of their interns.

Until that Friday, Edwin was again beginning his meticulous cleaning routine. He heard the footsteps of someone coming in and he turned to saw that Beshte apparently came in for a surprise visit.

"Oh hi Beshte, I thought that you're working on the lower floor today." Edwin said with his tone slightly perked up a little.

"Oh yeah, I am but I'm on my lunch break right now...which also happens to be the same lunch break that you have missed for almost five days in a row. Your colleagues told me that you became a little reclusive lately, more obsessed with work than usual, is everything okay?" Beshte said with a concerned look on his face, which caused Edwin to put down the micropipette he was holding.

"I'm fine Beshte, I've just want to improve my focus in work. I felt that I have been distracted lately and I don't think that's really weird or anything to be concerned about." Edwin said in denial and tried to focus again on re-sorting the row of micropipettes in front of him.

"Actually….I would have to agree with Beshte on that one." A voice called for Edwin and Beshte to look at Ma Tembo taking one of the micropipettes from the rack Edwin was organizing earlier.

"Okay, are there any aspects in particular that raise your concern?" Edwin asked.

"Well for starters, you have been using your lunch breaks to obsessively clean beakers and flasks that were already clean to begin with, also you seem to only insist on talking about solely work-based manners with your colleagues, even when it comes to simple questions such as 'how is your day?' and even when I understand your dedication to your work, and I'm pleased to see that but based on what I see, it seems like that something is bothering you lately. Do you want to talk about it with us?" Ma Tembo said, directly staring into Edwin's eyes.

Edwin stared at both of them for a few seconds, until he sat down at the lab station in front of him.

"Okay, it has nothing to do work, in fact I think work is going just fine. I've just got some personal stuff that's kind of bothering me lately." Edwin replied.

"Edwin, even when I know this is a workplace and I'm your supervisor, don't hesitate to ask me if you want to talk about it. When I was a calf, my father used to always tell me that it is always better to talk through your emotions because if you hold them back, it will only lead to trouble." Ma Tembo said while she and Beshte sat at nearby lab stools.

"Yeah, there have definitely been some times where I had to talk about some of the personal stuff I've went to, ranging from events before my transformation, after transformation and even some things during my service in the army that affected me emotionally." Beshte said in an understanding tone.

After this, Edwin is starting to feel a little more comfortable and thought that it probably wouldn't hurt to try to talk about the emotions he is going through.

"Okay, well something came up last weekend which caused me to have some conflicting emotions and.." Edwin said before Beshte flashed a look of realization, after just realizing what he is talking about.

"Wait… did something happen with your date with Jasiri last Saturday? Because Jasiri has also been missing from our usual lunch breaks, did something go wrong?" Beshte said.

"Oh you went out with Dr. Fisi from the fossil department? She's such a delightful woman." Ma Tembo said.

"Oh yeah, she is, but I just hope she doesn't hate me now." Edwin said with a more depressed tone.

"What do you mean 'hate you'? I know she's not the kind of person to immediately hate someone. So what exactly happened on this date?" Beshte asked.

"Well, I first picked her up from her building to go to this tea place, but on the way she wanted me to make a quick stop for her to transform into her hyena form. After she transformed, we went to the tea place and there was this cashier and a few customers that kept staring at her, even when I confronted the cashier about it, I was an idiot not to confront the customers about it. Even after we ordered and drank our tea, I noticed that she was visibly apprehensive, but I initially thought it was just first date jitters because I had them myself. Then what really went wrong was that I accidentally spilled some of my tea on my side of the table so I grabbed some napkins to clean it up and for some reason so did Jasiri. At some point we accidentally touched each other's hands and we stared at each other for about a minute. While we stared at each other, I felt this connection which was enhanced by the small concentrations of oxytocin flowing through my endocrine system. Despite this connection I felt towards Jasiri, I didn't think she felt the same way because she got really nervous, made a possible lie to me about an appointment she had and just left the restaurant. I want you guys to tell me exactly how much I screwed up? It's probably a lot isn't it? But even when I accept that she might not have the same feelings of me, but I'm still concerned because I tried texting apologies to her but it's been a couple of days to which she still hasn't responded to yet, and I'm just worried that she hates me and I just feel so guilty that I screwed everything up." Edwin said.

"Woah...Okay. First of all, that was a mouthful to digest and second if you are asking me, I don't think you did anything wrong." Beshte said.

"You don't?" Edwin replied

"Of course not, based on what you told me, your behavior was completely appropriate for the events that went on. First of all, even when it still bothers us, we found ways to ignore the staring from the humans around us when we are in our hybrid forms so I don't think that was what bothered her. Also I think Jasiri probably understands that the hand thing was an accident but I don't think she left out of disgust because if she did, she would have flinched immediately, but you said she also starred for a minute right?" Ma Tembo said in an inquisitive tone.

"Yeah, we stared for about a minute. Are you implying that she may feel something back?" Edwin curiously replied.

"I'm not necessarily saying that, but her continuing to stare at you for a minute in that instance that she could have been pensive about something but I can't seem to… wait I know what it is." Ma Tembo said.

"What is it?" Edwin asked.

"Well perhaps she might be concerned about ruining her friendship with you if you guys have a relationship but end up having a bad break up. But there is also the more likely scenario that she might have some nervousness about dating since her last serious relationship." Ma Tembo said.

"Wait is this about that guy Janja who was killed or is it someone she dated after you guys came to the human world?" Edwin asked.

"It was a relationship she had a couple years ago, she dated this guy we know, and despite the first three months of the relationship being decent, that was when it all ended. He had some insecurities which he took out on Jasiri. After nearly a year in this relationship, she ended it on her terms and certain rules were established between the two. I guess she's afraid that either something similar will result in pursuing a future relationship or it could be just insecurity of going back on the dating field." Ma Tembo replies.

"Oh okay, I guess I can understand that. I just wish there is a way that I could let Jasiri know that I'm not that type of guy because I've texted her several times but she hasn't even replied once." Edwin said.

"I'm probably sure she knows that, but I guess the best thing you can do at this point is just give her some space, just to let things cool down a bit." Beshte said.

"I guess that makes sense, thanks for the input guys. I think I'm just going to go back to cleaning the beakers…" Edwin said before Ma Tembo walked in front of him before he could retrieve the beakers.

"Oh no you don't….You've been using your lunch breaks to clean those same beakers all week. For the remainder of your lunch break, you use your office or the break room to have an actual lunch break. I'll get Makini to clean the beakers." Ma Tembo said with a light smile on her face, in which Edwin started to become less tense.

"Okay, I guess it won't do any harm to take a half hour break." Edwin said.

After having this conversation, Edwin started to head to his office with Beshte following him to try to engage in casual conversation for the remainder of their lunch break.

Meanwhile, after a couple of minutes on the other side of the building, Jasiri was using her lunch break to clean her equipment… for the fifth day in a row.

Makuu eventually came back into the fossil lab from his lunch break to see his colleague aggressively cleaning their equipment.

"Jasiri, we need to talk." Makuu said.

"What do you mean? What's the matter? Did something come up for you in our research?" Jasiri asked.

"Oh no, it has nothing to do with that. It's just that I've been concerned about you lately." Makuu replied.

"What do you mean concerned with me, I'm doing just fine." Jasiri said while she was rinsing out a brush she was cleaning.

"Doesn't seem like it to me. You've missed our lunch breaks all week to clean equipment, you're more tense than usual, and you haven't been really talking to anyone lately. Also, for some reason Edwin from genetics has also been missing lunch breaks, though I'm not sure why." Makuu said.

Jasiri paused what she was doing and turned towards Makuu with a somewhat surprised look on her face.

"Wait? Edwin has not been at the table lately? Is he sick or something?" Jasiri asked.

"Oh no he's not sick, according to Vuruga, he has been using his lunch breaks to both recheck certain data they collected and…" Makuu said before making a realization about Edwin's behavior with Jasiri's.

"...cleaning equipment. Wait does your recent behavior have anything to do with your feelings towards Edwin?" Makuu asked.

Jasiri's face began to blush to an almost crimson color, flashing a look of embarrassment towards Makuu.

"Whaaat… I don't… I don't know what you are talking about? Me? Having feelings for Edwin? That's crazy…." Jasiri awkwardly replies, desperately trying to get out of this conversation topic.

"Aw come on… You really think I wouldn't notice the way you stare at him whenever he is not looking, you talk about him constantly when we text and I think at one time I saw you checking out his ass." Makuu replies.

Jasiri was in a difficult position, because despite wanting to hide her emotions at the moment, but Makuu has been like a father to her since they first started living in human society. After staying silent for about 30 seconds until she decided to tell the truth.

"Fine. Last week, Edwin asked me out, I said yes to see if the feelings I have for him are real. But even before the date, I felt a little nervous about it for some reason, I just blew it off as first date jitters and thought nothing about it. When Edwin picked me up, I asked him to park his car at some point so I can transform into my hyena form. He was so understanding and so open-minded, and when we got to the tea place he took me to, he even confronted a cashier who kept staring at me in my hyena form. Despite that, there was still some kind of insecurity inside of me I couldn't determine what it was. After ordering our tea, we casually talked for a while and then at some point, Edwin accidentally spilled some of his tea and I decided to help clean the spill and as we were cleaning the spill….we touched each other's hands, probably thinking it was a napkin. While we held each other's hand, I couldn't help but stare into his brown eyes as he was staring at me back. As I kept looking on, I felt something almost connecting me to him… something just felt so right and so comfortable with him...so comfortable that it is familiar. In a way, it was too familiar and I cut the date off early saying it was a therapy appointment. I feel so guilty for just leaving Edwin like that and he even texted me a few times to see if I'm alright but he'll probably think I'm crazy if I tell him the reason I left the date early. I tried to make an appointment with Joyce to talk about it but she had a family emergency this week." Jasiri said as Makuu was starting to approach her.

"What exactly is the reason that you left the date early?" Makuu asked.

"Well first, it has been partially due to insecurities with dating I've felt lately. Second, I guess I'm just worried that I will get into another bad relationship like the several I have been in since we entered human society. There was Milo and Risteard back in Milwaukee, which were both brief. Then there was that one month with a dental student in Los Angeles before he dumped me, two bad attempts at online dating and then there was the time when I tried to date someone from our former Pride Lander group and….you know." Jasiri said with an awkward expression on her face.

"I definitely know about the last one… I can't believe the damn CEO let him continue to work at the museum after he literally beat the crap out of you. To think I once had respect for that guy." Makuu angrily said.

"To be honest I'm not that surprised given his connections, although he's at least following the parameters of the restraining order I placed on him so I know that he must be at least 100 feet away from me at all times. So fears of getting into another bad relationship was also part of why I left my date with Edwin early but the main reason I got nervous and left was that the comfort and familiarity I felt with Edwin reminded me of Janja. When Edwin and I held each other's hands, I was starting to feel… guilty because even when I know he's dead, I still felt that I was cheating on Janja when I was out with Edwin. I know it's probably ridiculous, but for some reason I occasionally still felt this way every time I went out with someone since Janja died." Jasiri said, developing a slightly depressed expression on her face while lowering her head and sitting down at a lab station behind her. With Makuu slowly walking towards her.

"Jasiri, after I lost my entire crocodile float to the drought, I initially thought that I would never make any true friends again, but then I got to know you when we entered the human society as a seven year old kid and me as a twenty something adult, why we transformed to humans in those age groups, I don't know, but anyway each year we navigated through human society, I started to open up to other people step-by-step and yes I've encountered some assholes on the way but I've also met some really good people too. The more time I spent with people who actually cared about me, the more I moved on from my initial grief. Though of course, I've never forgotten my float, but I no longer dwell on the grief I had twenty years ago." Makuu said. Jasiri so raised her head to look towards him.

"You know Makuu, this is one of only like six times where I have seen you truly express your emotions, and even when we have had our rough patches, I am glad to have had someone like you look out for me over my years of navigating the human world. You have truly evolved over the two decades I've gotten to know you. Thank you for giving me some advice on the whole Edwin issue." Jasiri said.

"No problem, and I think you should reply back to Edwin and just tell him about why you were nervous." Makuu said.

"Okay, but I'm not sure if he would respond well if I say '_Hey Edwin, I'm sorry for running out on our date last week, I was nervous because I was afraid of either getting into another bad relationship while also trying to get over my long dead mate. Do you want to talk about it?' _He would probably think I'm crazy." Jasiri said.

"Maybe I wouldn't use those exact words but I would just text him casually about how you have been feeling and then slowly introduce each issue through each point of the text conversation." Makuu said.

"Okay, thanks for the input." Jasiri said as she turned around to head to her work station until hearing a voice intrude.

"Hey Dr. Fisi, Hey Dr. Mamba, is there anything that I might help with?" Yosef said as he entered the room. Makuu suddenly gained an obviously irritated expression on his face.

"No Yosef, we're fine, just head back to your station…." Makuu replied as Yosef got back to his station. Makuu then orientated his head next to Jasiri's ear.

"Actually he could help us by minding his own damn business.." Makuu whispered, which caused Jasiri to snicker a little bit.

Two hours after she returned home from work, Jasiri was just lounging in her living room, in her anthropomorphic hyena form and she was just watching reruns of a show that she has been streaming. She was resting comfortably in a pair of black sweatpants and a white UW-Milwaukee t-shirt. She then grabbed her phone from the coffee table in front of her, to again look at the texts Edwin sent her, in which he expressed concern for her welfare as well as apologies for making their date awkward.

Even when she knows that she should reply to his messages, she still has a feeling in the pit of her stomach in which she is uncertain of what to say. She was debating it for a few minutes but then placed her phone down at the coffee table.

"I'll text him tomorrow." She said to herself and placed the phone back on the coffee table to continue watching her show.

Jasiri P.O.V:

It's now almost 10:30 in the night already and I'm starting to feel a little tired already, so I turned the TV off and started to head off to bed.

This week has been an emotional rollercoaster, ranging from trying to figure out my feelings with Edwin to trying to resolve my inner insecurities, with the addition of a busy work schedule. You know what, tomorrow is Saturday, so I can just sleep in and text Edwin tomorrow morning.

After arriving in my bedroom, I immediately went on the bed and covered myself up to my chest in my blanket, though there are still some stands of my fur from last night, but I've gotten used to my shedding on my blankets a long time ago. Eventually, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

While I slept, I woke up at 1:00 in the morning to the sound of glass shattering. I turned my head in both directions to see where the noise came from. So far, nothing is broken in my bedroom so it must have come from the living room. I just got out of my bed only to stop where I am standing when I heard light tapping from the living room floor in the next room, which only meant one thing….someone else could be in the apartment.

I decided to tiptoe to my closet to grab something I can use as a weapon. I opened the door and my attention was brought to the set of dumbbells I was using last weekend, so I grabbed the black five pound dumbbell because it was the first one I saw. With the dumbbell in my hand,I began to proceed to the bedroom door, I accidentally stubbed my toe on a nearby wall, and saw I accidentally chipped a toe claw in the process, but that doesn't matter, there could be someone in my apartment.

As I left my bedroom, I decided to check the perimeters of my apartment, including the bathrooms, guest room/office, and kitchen. So far I have no one, I went to the living room to find no one there, but I saw that a green vase that I owned was shattered. I then decided to check if the intruders might have gone into my bedroom...only to find no one there. Even when it may have definitely been weird to find the broken vase, I am relieved to see that no one is in my apartment. My door and windows were locked and no signs of forced entry, so there's a chance that there were no intruders to begin with, a neighbor could have accidentally banged the wall so hard it caused the nearby table to shake, which in turn caused the vase to fall. Either that or my apartment is haunted...yeah right….that's ridiculous, last time I heard neither Kion had any contacts with spirits of their ancestors since we entered human society.

I decided to head over to the cabinet under my kitchen sink to grab a dustpan and brush to handle the broken glass. I placed the dumbbell on the nearby coffee table and took a few steps to go into the kitchen as I reached my hand towards the kitchen cabinet…

"_Jas"_

I heard a single male voice whispered. I just stood there petrified of the fact that someone is in this house and somehow know by name. I couldn't distinguish the voice directly….but something about it did sound familiar. Is it who I think it is….wait no it couldn't be, I thought I was done with this when the legal paperwork went through. But what if it is...some people have said he gotten worse over the past two years, but on the other hand that could be just-

"_Jaaaaas"_ the voice called again in a much louder tone.

Oh shit! It could be him. Oh fuck, oh fuck! I need to act fast. I saw the knife holder on my counter so I grabbed two adjacent kitchen knives and carried them out of the kitchen and decided to make a B-line to my phone to try to call 911 and began to run towards my bedroom until..

"_Jasiri…. Don't be afraid….._" the voice said.

"_Yes….it's been a long time Jasiri….we need to talk…You know you can always talk to me_" a separate female voice called.

I stopped right in my tracks….because I know that voice. I was confused because it couldn't be possible for it to be who that voice belongs to.

"Wait, no no no no no no no..This is not possible, I'm probably just hearing things and I probably need to get some sle-" I was saying to myself while beginning to walk towards my room, until I heard it call again.

"_Jasiri….please turn around. We really need to talk to you_…" The female voice said.

To see whether I am hearing things or not, I turned around and when I looked in the living room, I couldn't believe my eyes. The furs all over my body began to stand still, I dropped the knives that were in my hand and put my phone in my pocket. While I saw what I saw, a bunch of memories started to flow back into my mind and I was even starting to tear up.

"Wait...how?! How is this possible?! This couldn't be...is it?" I anxiously said to myself.


	19. Chapter 19: Encounter With the Past

**Author's Note: **Hello here is the next chapter, sorry for the delay. I hope you enjoy it and the more to come up in the future.

Third Person P.O.V:

As Jasiri saw her "visitors" she couldn't help but look into shock and disbelief as the memories came rushing back through her head, while in front of her…..two hyenas were sitting in her living room….two pure hyenas, standing on four legs instead of two. One was a male with light gray fur with dark gray spots, black paws, bushy black tail,large pointy ears with one having a notch and dark almost black eyes, with black fur running along from his head to upper back. The other hyena next to him was a female hyena with brown eyes, faded gray fur similar to Jasiri's with dark gray spots, a black tail with a couple of beige furs, black paws and fur tufts on both her head and neck.

Surrounding the two hyenas is this pale white light, which also reveals the wounds and scratches of the male, while the female is revealed to be severely emaciated.

Despite the disfigurations of the two hyenas, Jasiri, with tears streaming down her face, recognized them instantly. They were the hyenas who she kept remembering over the past twenty one years, the ones who were constantly in her mind and heart, as well as her sketches. It took her a minute to find the composure to say something until she looked towards the hyenas directly into their eyes.

"Ja-Ja-Janja!?...Madoa?!" Jasiri said while beginning to choke up. She began to run over to her living room to approach the figures.

"Oh my goodness, do you know how much I have missed you, it has been quite lonely withou-" Jasiri said as she bent down to try to hug the figures, only to go right through them and fall face flat on the floor, only two inches away from her broken vase, getting up to turn around to still see the two figures still present.

"Wait?! How are you guys here?! I saw both of you die during the drought?! How is this possible?!" Jasiri said in an inquisitive and shocked tone. Janja and Madoa began to give out more saddened expressions.

"Unfortunately even when we can look over you and occasionally communicate with you, we cannot come back from the dead. But anyway we have missed you too!" Madoa's spirit said.

"Yeah Jas, how's it been? It's been a while since we spoke with each other." Janja said.

"Yeah about twenty one years, so yeah everything has been fine so far though I had a rough week….Oh wait, right...I have a lot to explain to you to tell you how I ended up where do I start, oh yeah, so after you guys died, I realized-" Jasiri said before Madoa interrupted her.

"Don't worry Jasiri, there's no need to explain...we've been watching over you for the past twenty one years, before and after your transformation. I've been impressed by the bravery that you have shown in transitioning to your life in the human world and you can't imagine how proud we are of you." Madoa said as tears were starting to form on her eyes.

"I appreciate the gesture, but how can I reward myself when I basically let you down back in the Outlands and how I practically led you to your deaths. It was all of my fault and I am so sorry that I let all of you down back there. I was a terrible leader." Jasiri said with a depressed and guilty look on her face.

"What are you talking about, you were the only one in the Outlands that tried to maintain peace in the Outland. Ever since the vultures left and the jackals and crocodiles formed their own factions, our fate was inevitable, but none of your fault, some animals just got desperate and greedy." Janja said.

"But I left you guys for that meeting with Simba and because of that, you and most of the clan died in that ambush by the jackals and crocodiles. I should have stayed to protect the clan." Jasiri interjected.

"That was not your fault, it was an ambush, nobody knew it was coming, and you left trying to help us get more rations, why would I ever blame you when you were trying to help us." Janja replied. Jasiri then moved her head towards Madoa.

"Yeah, but unfortunately, I did not manage to get the resources required to save everybody, and if I tried harder to get more, then you wouldn't have died, Madoa." Jasiri said.

"That wasn't your fault either, both the Outlands and Pride Lands were suffering from the drought. Both lands had limited resources, there was nothing that could be done to stop it. After I died, you made the wise choice to leave the Outlands because based on the conditions at the time, you had no choice but either die there or try to find more fertile land. I'm just letting you know that neither of us blame you at all for our deaths." Madoa said, which caused Jasiri's expression to perk up a bit.

"Yeah, we both are just proud of you of what you have personally accomplished in the human world, even when I still don't really know what exactly is going on. Oh and sorry that I broke that...thing when I first came, what exactly was it a rock that can break easily or a thick and colorful egg?" Janja said, gesturing his head towards the shards of broken glass behind him.

"Oh you mean the vase? It's fine, it wasn't something that really mattered to me. Besides I kind of hated that thing anyway, I only kept it because an old neighbor got it for me as a house-warming gift when I moved here." Jasiri said

"Man, I am still impressed you are able to live in the human world, it just seems so complicated when I see it. Even being young seems complicated." Janja said.

"Anyway, I've missed you so much, so as you could see, things are going fine for me so far but I've also had a rough week lately and it's just…" Jasiri was saying before Madoa interrupted her.

"Actually, that's kind of why we are here...it's just that we don't want you to lose the opportunity to find true happiness." Madoa said.

"What are you talking about, Madoa?" Jasiri said with a confused yet evasive look on her face.

"You know what we are talking about, Jas. I'm talking about your encounters and the meet ups with that guy from the genetics lab who Makuu tends to call 'man-bun'?" Janja said.

"The guy Makuu calls man-bu- wait do you mean Edwin?" Jasiri asked.

"Yeah that's him, we saw that you two at that tea restaurant and things seem to be going so well, but for some reason, you just walked out of the place out of the blue. What happened? He seemed completely open-minded about your nightly transformations and just an open-minded person who you seem to be genuinely happy with. Was it when you accidentally grabbed each other's hands?" Madoa asked.

"Well sort-of, but it's just that...that…" Jasiri hesitated.

"It's just what?" Madoa said.

"It's just that I was...or am nervous that if I the date ended well and pursued a relationship with Edwin, then there's a chance that it will end up like the last serious relationship I had and that did not end well…." Jasiri continued as she managed to turn her head towards Janja.

"Well when I was with Edwin, I was feeling guilty because I was actually having a great time, in fact it was the best I've felt in a date in years, but I can't help but feel guilty because I felt that I was unintentionally replacing you and I just didn't want to forget about you even when I move on to other relationships." Jasiri said, provoking the two spirits in front of her to first look at each other and then back at Jasiri, with Janja beginning speaking first.

"Jasiri….I always knew that you never had any intentions to replace the memories that we had together in the Outlands, but I also understand your need to move on from the past. I first understood that when you dated that guy uhh...Milo when you were in that middle school place. Anyway, there is no need to worry or feel guilty of dating others, we just want you to be happy and live your life and don't let memories from the past stop you from doing that. The more you dwell on those memories, the more they will prevent you from living in the present." Janja said with a stern yet assuring look on his face, with Jasiri responding with a light chuckle.

"Wow, I never expected those words to come out of your mouth, when did you grow up all of the sudden?" Jasiri responded in a light-hearted tone.

"Well I guess you can say that the afterlife has really gotten me to really look at exactly how precious life is. Look at you! You seem to be having fun working looking at old bones and rocks, living in this place with crazy weather and all of your new fur coatings you've worn since you became a hybrid." Janja said, causing Jasiri to look down her abdomen.

"New fur coatings? -Oh...you mean my clothes. I don't really have any personal attachment to them, I just wear them to keep my human skin warm and even when I transform, cover myself because in the human world it's considered taboo to walk in public without them." Jasiri said.

"Also, to get to your other concern, I totally understand your concern of avoiding the repetition of the relationship you mentioned. I was shocked by his behavior towards you during the time you were dating, to think I trusted that guy when I met him when I was still alive. Based on what I've seen so far, Edwin is nothing like him. He's open-minded, he's caring, you guys seem to trust each other, he seems to have feelings for you and you definitely have feelings for him." Madoa said, in which the last part caused Jasiri to blush a little.

"Is...Is it that obvious?" Jasiri asked with a hint of embarrassment.

"Come on! I'm surprised that Makuu's the only one that caught on, not even Edwin himself saw the hints when you two first met. I could see that there's something special between you and Edwin and you should go for it." Madoa said.

"What if I screw things up? I don't want to lose him as a friend let alone a potential relationship." Jasiri nervously said.

"Did you forget who you are? You are my Jasiri, my sister Jasiri, the same one who helped hyenas got in good terms with the Pride Landers, the same one who led the Hyena Resistance to beat the Army of Scar, the same one who united two feuding clans, the same one who navigated both the drought and your human world all by yourself earning those paper degree things, finding your passion and ultimately finding a purpose in life after the Outlands had collapsed. If you can do all that through the duration of your life, then there is no doubt that you will be able to be in a relationship with someone who respects, trusts or cares about you whether its Edwin, your neighbor or even the guy who just sits in the lowest area of this place. You are strong, determined and courageous and you have the capability of achieving your goals, whether personal or work-oriented and don't you ever forget about that." Madoa responded in an assuring tone.

After hearing this, Jasiri began to become more reassured and a smile started to form on her face.

"Yeah you're right, I'm Jasiri Fisi, I was a leader of a resistance, prime minister of the Outlands, students and researcher at UW Milwaukee and UCLA, eventually ending as a fossil preparator. If I can do all that in the course of my life, I can make things right with Edwin." Jasiri said, turning her head towards the space in between two groups.

"Thank you guys, I really needed this. After I go back to sleep and wake up tomorrow, I'm going to finally respond to Edwin's messages to make things right."

"No problem Jas, We are happy to help." Janja said, while tears started to form in Jasiri's eyes.

"I really miss you guys, I hope everything is going well in the afterlife." Jasiri said, eventually kneeling down to hug the two spirits, only for her clawed hands to only touch air even with the appearance of the Janja and Madoa's spirits hugging her back.

"Yeah, we miss you too, even when the afterlife is nice, it is still lonely there without you." Janja said.

"I wish we can stay longer, but we have to go, our time slot for visitation is short. Goodbye Jasiri, and I wish you good fortune from what life will bring you." Madoa said.

"Goodbye Madoa….Goodbye Janja…" Jasiri said with tears in her eyes.

She continued to stare at them until second by second, the figures becoming less visible, eventually disappearing entirely. Jasiri used the collar of the T-shirt she was wearing to wipe off the tears in her eyes.

"Okay, so when I wake up tomorrow, I'm going to respond to Edwin's texts to try to make things right…" Jasiri said to herself, eventually pausing after seeing the pieces of the broken vase on the floor.

"But first I need to clean up this vase….oh and put the knives back in the kitchen." She said.

As she grabbed the dustpan and broom to clean up the shards of broken glass, she was thinking about what exactly she was going to text Edwin. After disposing of the broken vase in a small black waste bin. She went to the outside of her bedroom to put the knives back in the kitchen, placing them in the sink to wash them the next day. After placing the knives in the sink, she saw the dumbbell she left on the coffee table, hesitating a little, but decided to put it back in her closet tomorrow morning, eventually going back to her bedroom to sleep.

The next morning, Jasiri woke up in her human form, as she usually does every morning. She goes through her normal morning hygiene routine, changing into an outfit consisting of blue running shorts and a black tank top. She grabbed her phone and looked again at the texts Edwin sent her. She took one deep breath and started typing.

_Hi Edwin,_

_I am incredibly sorry that I did not respond to your texts, not to mention that I am sorry that I might have been avoiding you last week at work. I just want to apologize for all of that. What I am most sorry about was on how I just ran off on our date last Saturday. I was going through some insecurities at the time because I have not previously had the best track record when it comes to a dating relationship and I was afraid that this date will end up like one of my previous relationships, and I still have occasional flashbacks of the death of my first mate. I am so sorry that my insecurities got in the way of our date. I want to help make it up to you, perhaps with another date to make up for me screwing up the first one? Anyway, I think we should talk a little more about this at work on Monday. Anyway, I hope you are doing well._

After she pressed "send", she went out to her living room to relax for a little she was walking, she noticed the dumbbell that she left on the floor the previous night and decided to go pick it up. As she approached the dumbbell, something caught her attention that caused her to pause. As she turned her head to the right she saw something that caused her eyes to grow wide…..the vase, in perfect condition, but was broken the previous night.

"Wa..Wa..Wait, wasn't that broken last night? Because I swore that I remember seeing the broken vase and the dustpan...the dust pan!" She said to herself, practically running to the kitchen cabinet below her sink. She grabbed the dust pan, only to see that it was only slightly dust, like it has not been used in a while with not even a single particle of glass present.

"What?! I swore I used it to clean up the shards and placed them in the….garbage!" She said as she ran to her waste bin...not a shard in sight. "Wha...Wha..How?! I clearly remember seeing the vase broken last night. I thought there was an intruder. I grabbed the dumbbell, found the broken vase and remembered grabbing the knives which are…" She said looking in the kitchen sink to see that the knives she put there last night were not there, but in the knife holder as they have never been touched. But next to her fridge she found the glass of water she prepared herself before she first heard Janja and Madoa's voices the previous night...still three quarters full.

"Wait? Why is the dumbbell and the glass of water still here while the vase and the knives look as if they have never been touched? Did I momentarily hear noises and got a glass of water before I went back to sleep? But I don't remember going back to sleep at that point and I remembered feeling the shards of the vase and talking to Janja and Madoa? So the conversation with Janja and Madoa, and the vase, was that all a friggin dream? Did that all just happen in my head or...but why did it feel so real and why do I remember touching the knives and the vase shards. Was it...Was I...Were they….That's it I need to go for a jog to keep my head straight!" Jasiri said practically yelling to herself.

She went into her bedroom to put on a pair of black socks and to her night stand to get her keys and wallet into a different pocket than her phone was already in, and headed straight out her front door.

"Yeah I just need a quick jog to get things back to perspective, yeah I'm probably overworked this week and need some time to clear my head." Jasiri said to herself as she descended the staircase near her front door.

She then took her phone out of her pocket to send another text

_Hi Joyce,_

_It's Jasiri again, I'm sorry to intrude you at this time but when is the earliest you are available for an appointment because I think I need to talk to you about something._


	20. Second Chances and Coffee Orders

It was a Monday afternoon at the Field Museum and Edwin was finishing placing several samples of lichen genomes and placed them in the incubator before he started his lunch break. He then walked to his office to grab his lunch and laptop bag so that he could do his work during lunch. He then heard knocking on his door, he turned around to see Makini at the door.

"Oh hey Makini, may I help you with something?" Edwin said.

"Hey Edwin, ready to go to lunch?" Makini asked in her usually cheerful demeanor.

"Almost, I just need to place some papers in my bag." Edwin said as he placed several papers in his laptop bag.

Soon, Edwin and Makini walked out of the genetics lab to meet with the rest of their colleagues. They were approaching the stairwell when they heard a voice call out to them.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" the voice called. The two colleagues turned toward the source of the voice, which turned out to be Jasiri. At that point, that reminded Edwin that he promised her to have a conversation at work, so Edwin predicted what was going to be said later.

"Oh hey Jasiri, how's it going? It's good to see you, it's been like a week. Is everything going alright?"Makini asked in a concerned tone.

"Oh no everything is going alright, I've just been going through some stuff last week but I'm over it now...Anyway, can I just borrow Edwin for a little bit I just need to discuss something with him for a few minutes, I just need to talk with him about something." Jasiri said.

"Sure no problem…" Edwin eventually turned his head towards Makini's. "I'll meet you in the cafe in five minutes, I just have to talk to Jasiri about something for a bit." He finished.

"Okay, no problem, see you then I guess, I'm just glad to finally see you get out of the lab after a week." Makini said as she walked down the stairwell. Edwin and Jasiri moved towards the right of the stairwell next to an exhibition case with a dinosaur skull in it.

"So you want to talk more about….you know…" Edwin said in an awkward tone.

"Yeah, again I just want to apologize for my behavior the past week or so. Ranging from running out on our date to avoiding you at work. At the date I was a little insecure because I've had bad luck in relationships and I was afraid that it might end up like some of my previous dates. Also there were some things from my first mate's death that I might still need to get over." Jasiri said in a guilty tone.

"It's fine, to be honest, I'm not much better because I was also avoiding you last week, which was a pretty immature move. I guess I was just so depressed from the rejection that I didn't want another awkward encounter, but I think that we should talk this through in order to avoid such problems. Also I've also had some bad luck in relationships, but that's a story for later. Again, I'm sorry that I avoided you, I shouldn't have done that." Edwin said.

"Yeah, but I kind of understand why you did it. If you did that to me I probably would have done the same thing. In fact I did do the same thing to a guy that I once dated in California when he dumped me without reason why, and I haven't contacted him since. It turned out that the reason was some yoga instructor from the Palisades. A month later, I started dating this guy from our former Pride Lander group in a long distance relationship. Three months later I earned my PhD and moved here to Chicago where Makuu told me of a job opening here in the museum, where the guy I dated also worked. It was smooth sailing for the first two weeks, but the next seven or eight months were a nightmare with him, thus encompassing the worst relationship I ever had, but that is another story." Jasiri said.

"I understand, I'm also sorry if the date was shitty in any sense to begin with." Edwin said.

"Are you kidding me? Edwin, despite the circumstances that happened, it was actually one of the best dates that I have had in years. That was actually another reason why I wanted to talk to you, I was thinking since we didn't really have a proper first date, perhaps we could go on a more proper date to really get to know each other. Perhaps we can try that tea place again because the tea there was actually pretty good?" Jasiri asked.

Edwin gave a pensive look for a few seconds until he flashed a small smile.

"Sure, that sounds great. How does Saturday night sound? I can drive again." Edwin said.

"Sounds great. Want to start heading to the cafe?" Jasiri said.

"Sure." Edwin replied. The two started to head down the stairwell.

"Also, there was no need to worry about the last date because that was not even close to the worst date I've been on. That title is reserved for the time I accidentally spilled a glass of water on an ex-girlfriend's mother, which doesn't seem that bad but I haven't told most people how that story ended. After I spilled water on the mother, I tried to dry up the spill with a napkin but in the process I accidentally knocked this gilded broach she was wearing and while I was trying to clean the rest of the mess, she sat on the pin from the brooch I accidentally dropped which ended in ending the date early…" Edwin was saying before Jasiri interrupted.

"Woah, that did sound bad…" Jasiri said before Edwin interrupted.

"Wait, I'm not done….The next day, the ex-girlfriend went to my apartment to talk about the previous night and she told me that her mother thought that I was too much of a clutz to date her daughter and told her that if she continued to date me, she would be cut out from her family's inheritance, so she had to choose between me and her family. And she ended up dumping me at the spot, after a year of dating her."

"That sucks man, she didn't deserve you anyway. I can't count you how many times dates ended badly...Oh and if you are wondering, our date two weeks ago doesn't even come close to my top ten." Jasiri said.

"Yeah, but to be honest, I'm glad that she dumped me because when I look at it now, she was kind of pretentious anyway." Edwin said, sparking a laugh from both of them.

"Yeah, I just hope that our second date will end up better this time." Jasiri said.

"Also speaking of the date, I was wondering...my ten year high school reunion is coming up a week after our date and I was wondering if you want to be my plus one? If not, it's totally fine and I would totally understand and…" Edwin said before Jasiri interrupted.

"You don't need to ask me twice, I will go either way because even if the date doesn't go well, we can always remain friends. Also either way, I would really want to hear stories about you in high school from your former classmates." Jasiri said in a playful tone.

The two just started to casually talk to each other until they met the rest of their colleagues and friends at the cafe. The tension that existed the previous week seemed to have dissipated.

The next day, it was a pretty much normal day for Edwin during work, working further on his research. But after work, there will be the first meeting of the Museum's newly formed Human-Hybrid Alliance, which Edwin decided to attend to see what it is about.

It was near the end of the workday, Edwin was finishing recording an analysis of some data from a chromatogram from genome samples he was working with earlier. While he was typing, he heard a knock on the door.

"It's open!" Edwin said in an elevated tone. The door opens and Ma Tembo opens the door.

"Hi Edwin, how are you doing?" She said in a cheerful tone.

"I'm fine just finishing up the chromatogram analysis. May I help you with anything?" He replied.

"Oh I was just wondering if you had a copy of the images of the gel electrophoresis we completed last week? Because I think I want to see them before we publish the final paper" Ma Tembo asked.

"Oh yeah, I'll email them to you soon. Just out of curiosity, are you attending that Human-Hybrid Alliance conference tonight? Because I'm going to" Edwin asked.

"Yes, it's good to see that there are people making an effort to improve relations between humans and hybrids because at least in the museum, I still feel that the social atmosphere between humans and hybrids seems to be cliquey." Ma Tembo said.

"Yeah, I noticed that too. Other than the group of colleagues I usually hang out with, I see that most people from other departments seem to only stick with people similar to them, whether it is human with human or hybrid. It kind of reminds me of the cliques I saw in my high school cafeteria." Edwin said.

"Yes, I've seen that too, let's just hope this conference could improve things." Ma Tembo replied.

"Yeah, anyway, I know that the meeting is in like two hours, so I'm going to get a coffee before the meeting at this place a block away." Edwin said.

"Okay, have fun, oh and also, I need to do a small errand myself so can by any chance join you for that coffee?" Ma Tembo asked.

"Sure, no problem, let me just check on the flowers I recently bought for the memorial service." Edwin said. As he said this, he went to check a glass of water which placed a small bouquet of white lilies. Most of the lilies seemed to be in good shape, though one flower appears to be starting to wilt.

"Okay, let's go." Edwin said as the two left his office while Edwin locked his office door.

As they were walking down the stairs they started to engage in light conversation just about very quotidien items in their lives.

"So yeah, that's why I don't usually take my car to work, I just don't like getting into traffic and the traffic during rush hour is crazy. Though I did bring my car today because I need to pick something up at the dry cleaner before they close at 11." Edwin said.

"Yeah, I understand, there are some occasions I use my car for errands because I want to get them over with." Ma Tembo replied.

"I get it, so just out of curiosity how long have you lived in Chicago?" Edwin said.

"Well, I've lived here ever since I began my PhD program at the University of Chicago, which was in the fall of 2006, so I lived here for about 13 years." Ma Tembo said.

"Oh okay, I took it out of your group, you lived in Chicago the longest?" Edwin asked.

"Oh no, a few others, including Makini, first came to Chicago after we left Tanzania. Different groups were assigned to different places so that's why we were initially separated. For example, I first arrived in the United States, I ended up in Los Angeles, where after I earned a GED, I went to community college for two years and ended up at USC for the rest of undergrad. When I began my grad school here, I still felt alone, until two years later when I ran into Makini who was still in high school at the time. We just caught up and at one point I brought up that my mentor planned to recommend me for a job at the Field Museum, she said that she knew Simba, though not the museum president at that point, already had a job at the museum at that point, and that was one of the influences that helped me choose to work here." Ma Tembo said as they both exited the museum.

"That's cool, so doing anything interesting this coming weekend?" Edwin said.

"Nothing really significant, just the usual errands and chores that I usually do. Oh, actually I do have my yoga class on Saturday night. It originally was on Friday nights but my instructor had to reschedule because he had to change locations. How about you, do you have anything planned this weekend?" Ma Tembo said.

"Well mostly just the usual chores and stuff, but Saturday night I actually will be going on a date with Jasiri from the fossils lab." Edwin said, making Ma Tembo respond with a delightfully surprised expression.

"Oh, so you were able to sort things out with Jasiri, good for you Edwin. What are you guys planning to do?" Ma Tembo asked as they crossed the street.

"Well we are going to the same tea place as we did last time, because even when that date was awkward, the tea there was still pretty good." Edwin said.

"That's good to hear, I hope everything goes well." Ma Tembo said as they approached the coffee shop.

"I'm sorry to say this but I really need to complete this errand at the florist next door, can you please order my beverage for me while I get this errand handled with?" Ma Tembo said.

"Sure, no problem, what do you want me to order?" Edwin replied.

"Thanks, I would just like a chai latte, I'll see you in a couple of minutes." She said as she walked towards the doors of the florist shop, while Edwin entered the coffee shop.

When he entered, he would find what one usually expects to find in a coffee shop: wooden floors, wooden tables with metal chairs, several green or brown ottomans and couches spread across the store along with small shelves in which one can buy small pieces of customized merchandise and music by artist that most people have never even heard of.

He approached the counter and waited for the two people in front of him to finish giving the barista their orders.

When the two people moved to the pick up area, Edwin came further towards the barista, who was a young woman who had black hair and her hair tied in a bun, wearing a black short sleeve shirt and a green apron.

"Hello sir, can I take your order?" The barista asked.

"Yes I would like an Italian Roast and a Chai Tea Latte." Edwin said.

"Okay and what name would you like those orders to be in?" The barista said.

"You can place the Italian roast under Edwin and the chai latte under the name Ma Tembo." Edwin replied.

"Okay, coming up…and that will be a total of $8.50." The barista said as she pressed the buttons on the cash register.

Edwin gave them a ten dollar bill, after which the barista gave him his change and receipt.

"Here you go, you can just wait at the desk to the right to pick up your order, have a good day." The barista said before moving on to the next customer.

Edwin moved toward the pick up area of the coffee counter to wait for the order to be done. While he was waiting, he noticed a familiar figure next to him.

"Hey Beshte, how's it going?" Edwin said, which caused Beshte to turn around towards Edwin and gave out a light smile.

"Oh hey Edwin! How's it going? I didn't know you would be here!" Beshte said enthusiastically.

"I'm good, just waiting for a coffee order, Ma Tembo is also with me but she had to complete an errand at the florist next door. How about you?" Edwin replied.

"I'm fine just waiting for my coffee order before the meeting. Also I saw your text, I'm glad you are able to work things out with Jasiri. Perhaps there's a possibility that she might have feelings back for you." Beshte said.

"I hope, but I can't assume for sure until I know how this second date will end up. So let's just hope it goes well." Edwin said.

"Yeah, I hope everything goes well for you. If you guys do end up dating, I think it will definitely go well, or at least will definitely end up better than her last relationship." Beshte said.

"Yeah, based on what you guys have told me, this ex of hers seemed like a real asshole. And you said that he was actually part of your former Pride Lander group, did you know them closely before you guys permanently transformed into hybrids?" Edwin asked, which caused Beshte's expression to change to a more saddened one.

"Actually...yeah I did, I've known him very well through working constantly. At one point, he used to be close friends, but over his behavior over the past decade, we don't really associate with one another other than in work related manners. I just never expected Kion to turn up in this path, after everything we went through." Beshte said in a saddened tone.

Once hearing the name of Jasiri's ex, a shocked expression appeared on Edwin's face. He was initially going to ask something, but a young man with short brown hair behind the counter called out an order.

"I got a decaf roast for uhh...Bashton? ...Bashton? Or is it Boshtick?...Boshtick?" The barista called, which caused Beshte to develop an irritated expression on his face.

"Ughh, this place never place never gets my name right." Beshte said as he approached the encounter.

"Thank you, but my name is actually Beshte, _Besh-te_." he said as he grabbed his order. In which he eventually walked back next to Edwin, who decided to return to the topic of Jasiri's ex.

"Wait? Kion? As in Kion, who works in the security department with you? He used to date Jasiri? The guy whose dad-" Edwin was saying before the barista interrupted.

"I got an Italian roast and Chai latte for uhhh Edward and uhhhh Mo Temple? Edward and Mo Temple?" The barista said, causing Edwin to have an irritated expression on his face.

"Ugh, every time…." Edwin said as he approached the counter and he grabbed the two coffee cups.

"Sir, my name is actually Edwin, not Edward and the other order's name is Ma Tembo, not Mo Temple." Edwin said in an irritated tone.

"Sorry about that sir." The barista said.

"It's fine." Edwin said with a visibly disappointed expression on his face, after which he walked back towards Beshte from which they moved to a table in front of the window.

"So yeah, Kion used to date Jasiri for a while, but that relationship did not end well, probably because he has become more and more unhinged over the years." Beshte said in a depressed tone.

"How exactly did this guy 'unhinged'?" Edwin said.

"Well you see, when we were back at the Tree of Life to get healing for Kion's scars, he used to have these surprised fits of rage, but that was until their healer, Nirmala, said he was healed. Then as you know we went back to the Pride Lands over the whole change of Lion Guard fiasco, eventually we eventually returned to the Tree of Life, until, you know, Nirmala and Surak executed the whole coup, forcing us to return to the Pride Lands. He was initially doing alright but as the drought hit and even when we transformed into human/anthropomorphic hybrids, he started to become more insecure about himself, and sometimes the fits of rage started to come back as he got older. When I first enlisted in the army, it turns out that that he was enlisting in the same place that I was, so we ended up catching up, he seemed to be doing better, but he was much more cocky than usual and he discussed of how he and Rani were still pulling it together with her in college and he in the army. So we were both deployed to the same unit in Afghanistan, while I struggled with my experiences in the army, he seemed to be a little too enthusiastic of his time in the army. He started to become slightly more violent with each passing day. He killed several people from the opposing side, but after I was discharged, I heard that he came close to killing a group of innocent civilians until other people had to intervene before anyone was killed, which caused him to be dishonorably discharged. After he was discharged he worked several security gigs before working at the museum and even tried to apply to be a police officer but failed the examination and his psychological evaluation. This basically amplified his aggressive behavior, he eventually took it out verbally and physically on his then wife Rani. I used to see some of the marks and bruises inflicted on her and even when it was sparsely talked about, but we all knew what was happening. I wish I reported at the time, his dad was getting into higher positions in the museum administration before becoming the CEO and I was afraid of facing repercussions involving my job if I reported his son. Eventually, Rani filed for divorce, left the museum to teach at an elementary school and placed a restraining order against Kion. A few months after that Kion started dating Jasiri through long distance since she was still in California at the time. As soon as Jasiri moved here to Chicago, he found a new outlet for his insecurities. He treated Jasiri the same way he treated Rani: berating her, hitting her...I heard one time that despite her attempts to defend herself, he beat her so hard that she nearly ended up in the ER and I'm glad that that was the day she finally walked out on him..." Beshte explained while Edwin was just gazing with a shocked expression on his face.

"Wait a second you knew that this was happening to your friend and none of you guys reported it?!" Edwin said in a surprised tone.

"Well, me and several others tried, but Simba recently became the CEO of the museum and we at the time trusted his judgement when he said he would handle it on his own. But then that night came when he beat her, I actually called the police, and unaware of me, Jasiri talked to Makuu a few hours after the incident and her resistance against the idea, Makuu marched over to Kion's place to handle it on his own, in which Makuu actually ended up breaking Kion's nose in the process. This sparked action from Simba and for the physical altercation, Simba actually suspended Makuu from work for almost two weeks even when the incident occurred outside of work. Through an agreement, Kion paid a settlement to Jasiri and placed a restraining order on Kion from Jasiri, so that he must stay at least 100 feet away from Jasiri at all times, with any violation resulting in possible jail time. After that, fortunately there have been no major incidents worse than just general rage. Honestly even when he is still alive, I feel like the Kion that I used to know died in the drought. I'm still surprised that this happened, sometimes I wondered if Nirmala actually healed him back at the Tree of Life or if it was just a diversion to make sure nobody found out about her involvement in planning the coup while we were there. After the army, I actually tried to recommend him to get counseling, but rejected me to the point where I just gave up on him. Sometimes I wondered, that if I didn't get discharged first, whether I actually could have helped him. Do you know why I was discharged from the army Edwin?" Beshte said with tears starting to form in the corner of his eye, while Edwin is trying to give a sympathetic look.

"Based on what you told me, you said you got injured because someone shot you in the foot." Edwin replied.

"Well I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the whole story of my experiences in the army, but the bullet that went through my foot came from my own gun. In other words….I intentionally shot myself in the foot.." Beshte said with Edwin giving off a slightly shocked expression.

"What? I'm sorry that happened, I couldn't imagine what you went through…" Edwin said in a sympathetic tone.

"To be honest, my experience in the army was pure torture. When I first enlisted, I thought that it was going to be similar to my Lion Guard days and I was protecting people and the Circle of Life….but my first day of active duty changed that in a heartbeat. All I saw was an unnecessary amount of violence from both sides, people losing their lives for no reason and sometimes even people's livelihoods being destroyed sometimes by the opponent and sometimes by own troops from my own units. I've already been through a lot when I saw friends die during the Tree of Life coup and members of my family die during the Pride Lands drought, my time in the army felt like I was reliving that all over again. I was miserable everyday while I was in the army. Though I did make a few friends during my time, my time outside of active duty was not much better. I was uncomfortable around most of the other soldiers I worked with because they constantly harassed and made fun of me for when I transform into my anthropomorphic hippo form. They were also assholes when they were not picking on me, whether it was toxic masculinity, homophobic comments in conversations and sexist behavior towards many of the female troops. Even with all of that happening around me, my last straw happened when I was five months into active duty when I was just doing daily rounds with a group of troops from my unit, and along the way we saw a group of children around the ages of eight or nine just kicking around a soccer ball in an empty field. It was nice to see the children finding a sense of joy despite the violence that was going nearby. We saw that the kids were eventually bored with the soccer ball and one of them threw what I initially thought was small rock for a game of catch. When one of the kids threw the object, I heard a click, which was a click that I recognized immediately from active duty...the sound of a released safety lever from a grenade. I tried to run to them as fast as I can but a boy caught it with his hands when it detonated. Even when most of the other children only had scratches and minor cuts...I couldn't save that boy. That image will be implanted in my brain for the rest of my life. That little boy...whose life ended at only around nine years old...from grenade shrapnel in his chest while he bled to death in his friends' arms. The friends eventually took us to the family of the deceased to give the unfortunate news to them. Later that day, I found some of the pieces of shrapnel from that grenade and when I took a look... I saw that the grenade was made in the U.S, meaning that someone from either my unit or another recklessly left a grenade in the middle of the field and a little boy died for no reason. After that...I had it...I had it with active duty and I had it with being in the military. The next day, I was doing another daily rounds, and I went to an area where I knew I would be alone, I aimed the gun at my foot and pulled the trigger. The pain was unbearable, but I would do it again if it meant getting me out of that situation. Other soldiers from my troop found me and I fabricated a story of forgetting to put the safety on my gun and accidentally pressing the trigger. As I was brought to the helicopter to be transported to the medical unit, most of the expressions of the other soldiers indicated that most people did not believe my accidental shooting story because out of my base, I actually had the best shooting score back when we were at basic training and most did not believe that I would not make such a silly mistake. They looked at me as if I was some kind of coward or that I was weak, but I was just trying to get out of a bad situation. When I got to the medical unit, along with treating my self-inflicted injuries, I was given a psychological evaluation and the psychiatrist diagnosed me with some condition I've never even heard of at the time... I knew nothing about post-traumatic stress disorder. But as they described the condition, behaviors associated with it and other details, I recognized that they matched behavioral patterns of mine before I was in the army, not sure if they might have started after the coup or the drought, but anyway I began to tell them my whole story and what not. They eventually said due to both my physical injury and my PTSD, I was unfit to return to active duty and that I would be sent home, in which I was relieved at the time because I finally got to leave that nightmare. I returned back to the United States a few days after that, I got my own place in Chicago, got my job as a security guard at the museum, I now see a counselor twice a week to help with my PTSD, went to community college and...oh I am also taking night classes four nights a week at UIC to work towards my bachelors degree and once I get it, I want to get a job in museum administration if I can. Even when I'm definitely satisfied with my life now, sometimes I still wish that I can go back to being the Pride Lands strongest and protect the Circle of Life to maintain peace. So that's my whole story, I'm really sorry if it is lengthy for the question you asked but I just felt that I needed to let it-" Beshte said before he was interrupted by Edwin hugging him out of the blue.

"Oh Edwin, I'm really sorry if my story depressed you or anything like-" Beshte said before Edwin interrupted him.

"Beshte, I am so sorry for all that you went through. Before I met you guys, I initially thought growing in a home with constantly fighting parents was bad, but after hearing both Jasiri's and your experiences both before and after the permanent transformation to hybrids really showed me that you guys are the strongest people that I've ever met. Even when you might doubt yourself sometimes, trust me you are one of the strongest people that I ever met. If you need to talk with me any time." Edwin said as he released Beshte from the hug, while the expression on Beshte's face began to lighten up.

"Thanks Edwin, I really appreciate it, and if you need to talk about it anytime, you can talk to me too. I really appreciate you for being a friend that I can talk this stuff with without judgement. When I discuss these stories with people, it tends to scare them for some reason. Also on an unrelated topic, I hope things with you and Jasiri will end up well. I think that you guys seem like a decent match, at least a better match than her and Kion were." Beshte said, in which the two shared a light laugh after the last part.

As they were sitting down, Ma Tembo came into the shop after a trip to the florist and approached the table Edwin and Beshte were sitting at.

"Hi Edwin, I'm sorry that took longer than expected, it took me a while before I found the right flowers I wanted to bring to the meeting...Oh hi there Beshte! I did not realize that you were also here, it's nice to see you. How's it going?" Ma Tembo said.

"Oh nothing much we were just having a casual conversation over some coffee…." Beshte said.

"Oh yeah…" Edwin said, grabbing the Ma Tembo's coffee. "Here's your latte...I'm so sorry if it's a little colder than expected, they prepared it faster than I expected." Edwin finished as he was handing Ma Tembo her coffee.

"No problem, I don't have a preference on what temperature my coffee is. Thanks for the coffee, I really appreciate you taking this order for me-" Ma Tembo said, but then briefly paused when she saw the name on the coffee cup.

"Hmmmm...Mo Temple?..." Ma Tembo said before she started to laugh a little. "This is one of the better names, this coffee franchise always gets my name wrong." Ma Tembo finished.

"Me too...The barista called me Bashton and Boshtick today." Beshte said.

"They got my name wrong too, they called me Edward...for some reason they added more letters to my name." Edwin said.

"Believe it or not, 'Mo Temple' is actually one of the better screw ups from this particular coffee franchise. One time a few months ago in one of their shops in North Center, the barista couldn't seem to read or pronounce my name on the cup so they just referred to me as 'latte for the lady in the pink shirt!' They didn't even try to say my name correctly." Ma Tembo said, causing the group of three to let out a light laugh.

For the next half hour the group of three engaged in casual conversation until they exited the establishment to head back to the museum to prepare for the meeting later that night.


	21. Chapter 21: The Shrine

Edwin P.O.V:

It was about an hour since I had coffee with Beshte and Ma Tembo and it was getting dark outside. I still had 45 minutes until the meeting, so I decided to do a little dusting in my office. I heard a knock on the door, which stopped dusting for a bit to open it, and I see that Ma Tembo was on the other side….in her anthropomorphic elephant form.

"Oh hi Ma Tembo, how's it going ? Don't worry I'll be down on the lower floor in a little bit, I'm just cleaning some dust from my desk." I said as I was finishing off wiping the dust off my desk.

"Okay no problem, just checking on how you are doing. I also wanted to say that I enjoyed talking to you and Beshte over coffee." Ma Tembo said.

"Yeah, I had a good time too, we should do it again sometime." I said.

"We should, maybe we can invite some of our other colleagues from the lab. Just out of curiosity, what did you and Beshte talk about while I was at the florist?" Ma Tembo asked.

"Oh nothing much, just work stuff, the whole Jasiri thing, he told me about some of his experiences in the army and...about that Kion guy, did you know that he used to date Jasiri?" I replied.

This response caused Ma Tembo's expression to change to a saddened one.

"Yes, I am I took it Beshte told you the specifics of that?" Ma Tembo said.

"Yeah, he told me about their rough patches and the….physical altercations." I said, whispering the last two words.

"Yes….I practically saw the effects of that relationship on her nearly every day they were together. Sometimes, I still ask myself what happened to that young lion. He used to be such a sweet and caring lion as a cub and adolescent….but now he's a temperamental, violent, selfish and abusive and his father seems to be doing very little to deal with it other than exterior damage control to maintain their exterior image. How Kion got this way, some say its trauma from the coup and drought, some say its insecurities from adjusting to the human world or the army, and others theorize that the Tree of Life's healer might have not actually healed Kion because she was involved in the planning and the execution of the coup. I am still disappointed that he nor either of his parents will be attending the meeting because I think they would have really needed this with Kion's temperament tendencies, Simba's infatuation with greed, power and….other women, and Nala seems to be distancing herself from her family completely in most occasions. On the bright side, at least Kiara and her mate Kovu are coming, they seem to be the only ones interested in trying to improve relations between human and hybrid coworkers….which reminds me, if you ever bump into them….never mention Kion around them, it's also a conflicting subject for them." Ma Tembo said.

"Yeah...I'll take note of that." I replied in a casual tone, which provoked a light smile on Ma Tembo's face.

"Thank you, I'll see you in a few minutes." Ma Tembo said as she left my office.

"You too!" I replied. After about two minutes, I finished dusting around my office, so I decided to start heading down to the meeting.

I grabbed the bouquet of lilies that I had on my desk and headed out my office door, turning the lights off and locking the door behind me. I walked down the small hallway to exit into the main hallway of the floor. I was walking towards the stairway as I heard another set of footsteps approach the stairway. I turned my head to the right to find the source of those footsteps…..which turned out to be just Jasiri in her hyena form carrying a similar bouquet of lilies, except her flowers have light green streaks in the flowers.

"Hi Jasiri, are you heading to the meeting too?" I said.

It seems that my sudden question startled Jasiri a bit.

"Ahh-...oh hey Edwin! You gave me a bit of a scare there. And yes I'm going to the meeting...your flowers look beautiful." Jasiri said in a calm tone.

"Thanks, yours too! Also, I really like your scarf, it compliments your eyes very well." I said.

"Aww, thanks! I like your shirt too." Jasiri said as we both began to walk down the stairs.

"So how was work for you today?" I asked.

"Oh nothing really eventful, just prepping fossils for exhibition, guiding interns and preventing Makuu from yelling at the interns again." Jasiri said, after which we slightly laughed at the last part as we went down the stairs.

After walking across the main floor, Jasiri and I went to the second stairwell that leads to the lower floor and we walked towards the back hallway to see that several employees have arrived, both human and hybrid...with the latter, like Jasiri and Ma Tembo, in their anthropomorphic forms of their native species. I notice that similar to me, everyone is wearing business casual clothing and there seems to be slightly more humans than hybrids, but perhaps that could be caused by the absence of most of the CEO's family.

"See you in a few minutes Edwin" Jasiri said as she went on to talk to a group of some of the hybrids from other departments.

"See ya" I replied, after which I further began to walk around the premises, and as I walk I bump into this figure of looks like to be some kind of shrine that was around seven or eight feet in length with a total of seven or eight roles of ascending stands with around two or three dozen frames on each platform. As I approached the shrine, each frame contained a sketch portrait of an animal...I take it that these were the animals that died during the drought and the Tree of Life coup. Above these frames are three small banners, one that says _Tree of Life_, another that says _Outlands _and another that says _Pride Lands._

As I approached the shrine, I felt a hand tap my shoulder; I turned around to see that it was that Human Resources guy Rafiki...in his mandrill form. It's been a while since I last saw the guy, I'm just glad that he doesn't have a tranquilizer gun this time. All he did was just smiled at me for a little bit.

"Hello Dr. Mariani, I'm glad to see you here tonight. Before you leave your offerings to the shrine, make sure that you divide the flowers fairly among each set of memorials so that all of the deceased will be equally respected." He said in a calm tone, which caused me to make sure there were enough flowers in my bouquet to do that, seeing that I had enough to place around four flowers for each section of the shrine.

"I'll make sure of that and it's an honor to be invited to be part of this organization Raf-" Isaid as I turned around...only to find that he disappeared out of nowhere.

"Wait where did that guy go?" I quietly said before I started to head for the shrine.

I walked in front of the section labeled _Tree of Life, _I walked in front of these portraits to see that these sketches were done in incredible detail, capturing every freckle, every hair and iota of their appearance. I laid a couple of my flowers on the Tree of Life section and as I looked at the portraits and I noticed that there was a sketch of a lion that had a mane in a similar shape to a mohawk haircut, but I dismissed it because the lion looked young and the main was probably not fully grown. But the other portraits I saw intrigued me a little bit because when I looked closely at some of the other portraits, I saw that one portrait contained that of a tiger another depicted what looked like a polar bear...I was a little confused.

"That's odd, tigers are not native to Africa and polar bears are not even close to the continent." I said quietly as I started to hear footsteps behind me.

"Oh that's because they're not. The Tree of Life was a designated safe space in which animals suffering through illness or escaping war could find a safe place in which either we can help treat their ailments or help provide a safe refuge where they can call home. Some came from places extremely far to seek theTree of Life...including the Lion Guard guard and I since learned that the Tree of Life was most likely within the boundaries of the Gujarat state in India." a voice said.

I turned around to find that the voice behind me belonged to Beshte in his hippo form.

"Really? That's interesting to hear. Though I am curious, how were you able to walk to Africa all the way to southern Asia- oh wait, the Sinai Peninsula, okay now I understand how. Also, sorry I didn't say this earlier but hi Beshte! How's it going?" I said.

"I'm good Edwin, how about you?" Beshte replied.

"I'm fine, and I apologize if my question about the tiger and polar bear was offensive in any way?" I said.

"Oh no, it's completely fine to be curious, and besides five other of the humans here including your colleague Pete asked the same question several minutes ago, but you did figure out the Sinai Peninsula earlier than the rest." Beshte said as he laid some of his flowers on the Tree of Life memorial.

"Did you know any of them personally?" I said, which might have caused Beshte's expression to sadden a little bit.

"Yeah, I knew several of the animals in the pictures, for example, I used to have casual conversations everyday with the polar bear and tiger when I was doing my daily patrols, and…" Beshte said as he then moved his hand towards a portrait of what looked like a rockhopper penguin.

"I once saved his life and after that he used to tell some of the best stories, even when I know he mostly exaggerated them….." Besthe said before moving his hand towards the portrait of a honey badger who had a small label that read the word _Binga_.

"Oh yeah then there's Binga, I remembered that she was super close to my friend Bunga, we used to say that they were practically twins and Bunga even told me he wanted to be mates with her at one point...but when the coup came, she fought with us against Surak, Nirmala and their army of rogues. She tried all that she could but a group of a few of the rogue lions overpowered her and they basically tore her limb from limb. Bunga was so devastated at the time….perhaps that's why he's not here today since the memories seem to have traumatised him and I guess he doesn't really want to relive those experiences again…." Beshte recalled, after which he started to gesture towards the portrait of the young lion with the mohawk-like mane.

"And of course, I cannot forget Baliyo, who was the brother or Kion's ex, Rani and he was a member of the Night Pride that usually took the night shifts in guard duty. He was also a very close friend of mine and he was one of the nicest guys I've ever met. Unfortunately his uncle Surak took advantage of that and that led to Baliyo losing his life. I should have raised my suspicions when the rogues first entered the lands when we were doing our late afternoon patrol, Surak and Nirmala said that they were going to take the group to Kion and Rani to determine their purpose of visit. But when we met up with Kion and Rani, they said that neither Surak nor Nirmala ever came to them with a group of rogues, suddenly we heard a commotion so we heard a commotion and within an hour of conflict...Baliyo was dead…" Beshte said in a depressed tone and I just stayed silent because I didn't want to say something that will accidentally trigger him.

We eventually took a few steps forward and we ended up in front of the section with the banner labeled _Outlands_. I was intrigued because that was where Jasiri told me where she was from. I took some flowers from my bouquet and I laid them in front of the memorial and started to look at the portraits at that particular section and along with portraits of a few jackals and crocodiles, but most of the detailed sketches were those of many hyenas...I deduced that these hyenas were probably what composed of Jasiri's clan.

As I looked at the detailed portraits, I observed that almost half of the portraits depict hyenas with small black manes on the top of their head, while the others depict hyenas that had no black manes on their heads. I continued to peruse through the sketches, I came upon one of the hyena portraits of what looked like to be a female hyena with a short black mane. I looked at the inscription on the frame and it read the word _Madoa_, this makes me think back to when Jasiri told me about her past in the outlands and I recalled that she mentioned having a sister named Madoa. So I turned my head towards Beshte and gestured my hand towards the portrait.

"Hey Beshte, is this Jasiri's sister? Because I recalled that she told me that she had a sister named Madoa and I was wondering if this is the same Madoa?" I asked.

"Yeah, that was Madoa, I've met her on a couple of occasions, she was usually pretty quiet and reserved, but she was also pretty active when it comes to affairs with the hyena clan." Beshte said.

I again perused for the portraits again to arrive at another one, but this time was that of a male hyena that had a small black mane on their head. I read the inscription on the frame and I was intrigued when I found that the frame was inscribed with the name _Janja_. Implying that this sketch was of Jasiri's mate that was murdered during the drought.

"Okay….so this is Janja…." I said quietly to myself and continued to look at the detailed portrait of these hyenas and I can't help but be impressed by the detail that is in these sketched portraits. Almost every strand of hair was included and it almost feels like I was in the presence of these animals even when they are deceased and I had never met them before….but tonight I feel that I'm about to get to know the deceased slightly better.

Anyway, after that, Beshte and I walked towards the section with the banner which read _Pride Lands_. I saw that Beshte's expression changed to a more saddened one, which made me think that there was probably someone or more he closely knew in the Pride Lands. The both of us took the remaining flowers of our bouquets onto that section of the memorial.

I looked at several more detailed sketch portraits which include several portraits of herbivores such as zebras, gazelles, buffalo, elephants, giraffes and several others. I also saw several crocodiles and several lizards and a few hippos….I've noticed that Beshte was staring at this particular section.

"Hey Beshte….are you alright?" I asked out of concern. He slowly turned his head to me with a blank expression on his face.

"Oh yeah...I'm alright...I'm just looking at these portraits...Just looking at one of my dad…." Beshte said in a calming yet depressed tone. I was intrigued and I myself began to look closely at the portraits of the hippos and I approached the portraits more closely. I gestured my hand towards one of them.

"Oh okay...were you close to your dad?" I said and for some reason, Beshte started to look at me with a confused yet slightly amused look.

"Actually, that portrait is not my father, that was a family friend Nguvu, he frequently assisted my dad all the time when it came to affairs in the pod…." Beshte said while gesturing towards another sketch of a hippo with the label _Basi_ on the frame.

"This was my father...Basi...and to answer your previous question...yes I was close to him...you can say he was also one of my closest friends. My mom died when I was young, and as I grew up, my dad and I used to talk about nearly everything together...the circle of life, life's obstacles, food sources, dealing with difficult situations...you name it. I did everything I could to save him but the water just kept drying out too fast and his body just couldn't handle the frequent dehydration or rationing of food sources and his body eventually just gave up on him. He was also still troubled by failing to protect some of the other members of the pod, while the remaining hippos of the pod just left the Pride Lands entirely, leaving the two of us the only two hippos there until he died…." Beshte said as he moved his hand towards what looked like an elephant calf approaching their mid adolescence.

"I was also close with this elephant, Mtoto, but...would it be okay if I don't talk about him right now because I get sad every time I recount his passing and I don't really want to damper on what is supposed to be an uplifting occasion." Beshte said as we both left the shrine and disposed of the wrappers our bouquets came in.

"Okay, no problem, I completely understand...so, now changing the subject. I was looking at the portraits in the shrine and I can't help but be impressed by the amount of detail carried out in each portrait. That Rafiki guy must be one hell of an artist...I'm impressed." I said, and Beshte's expression started to lighten up.

"Yeah, he is quite the artistic talent, he painted all of the paintings that recorded the Pride Lands history when we were still regular animals. But he actually only sketched the portraits in the Pride Lands section from the shrine." Beshte said, which caused me to become a little curious.

"Really? Then who sketched the portraits in the other two sections?" I asked.

"Well, from what I've been told, Makini sketched the portraits of the Tree of Life section, while I think Jasiri actually sketched those in the Outlands section. Each of them sketched the portraits of the deceased using only their memories and several pencils during their free time." He replied, which sparked my curiosity even further because I knew that she sometimes sketches for a hobby, but I did not know she had this much talent in sketching.

"Really? I knew that Jasiri sketched sometimes in her freetime, but I have no idea that she went to this extent with it, she's quite skilled as an artist." I said.

"Yeah, based on what she told me, she seems to have an impeccable memory." Beshte said.

We continued to walk around the area, talked to a few familiar faces around the museum and at one point, I saw someone that I've never seen before talking with Makini and Jasiri. It was a woman….or lioness I should say that seemed to have a similar fur color to Kovu, but it was slightly lighter and she was wearing a black skirt with a plain black blouse while holding a bouquet of yellow flowers, probably daffodils. This mystery lioness seems to be close to Jasiri and Makini based on their mannerisms around her.

"Hey Beshte, what department does that lioness work in because I have never seen her around the museum before?" I asked and Beshte just developed an awkward expression on his face.

"Oh her...yeah, you've never seen her because she no longer works here. She left years ago to pursue a career as an elementary school teacher." Beshte said.

"Okay, so what's her name?" I asked, which seemed to cause Beshte to become slightly uneasy for some reason but I do not know why.

"Oh yes…..her name is …..Rani…." Beshte said in an awkward tone and I was surprised when I heard the name based on previous items Beshte and others have told me.

"Wait?...That's Rani?...As in Kion's ex-wife Rani?..." I asked, and Beshte just nodded in response.

"Wait?...If she doesn't work here anymore then how does she know about this meeting." I asked.

"I have no idea to be honest….but I do know that she did grow closer to Rafiki and Makini while she was he, so they possibly sent her an invitation as a guest." Beshte said.

"Well...I guess we know why Kion's not here...you told me that Jasiri and Rani placed restraining orders on him and he would be violating both of them if he attended this event." I said.

"Possibly but I got a feeling that even if the restraining orders were not an issue or if he was invited, I still doubt he would even come because his personality has changed so much over the years and I'm not sure if he would ever be the same lion I once knew as my close friend." Beshte said.

Third Person P.O.V:

While Edwin and Beshte continued their ongoing conversation, Jasiri, Makini and Rani were casually talking to each other.

"...so yeah, that's what my weekend was like." Makini said.

"Okay, that sounded interesting, and about what you said about that lady in your yoga class, I never knew a leg can stretch to that angle." Jasiri said.

"Okay, now changing the subject, Jasiri, from what I hear, you are into this human that works here." Rani said in a mischievous tone.

"Oh yeah Jasiri…..tell us all about you and Edwin…" Makini said in that same tone, with each member of the group letting out a small laugh.

"Don't jump into conclusions so soon, we only went on one date so far and I would barely count that since I was still going over some insecurities about some previous relationships and you know…." Jasiri said.

"Yeah I can totally understand that…." Rani said in a slightly more empathetic tone.

"Although, I really do hope things go better with our second date because Edwin's such a nice guy and it's been a long time since I really felt comfortable with a guy and I hope that this will progress into a possible relationship….speaking of relationships….Makini told me that some guy who works at the school seems to have fallen for you? Is that true?" Jasiri said.

"Oh yeah...Henry...yeah he is a fourth grade teacher at the school, while I teach first grade. We mostly just hangout during the same teacher's lounge during our breaks and talk about our lives. He definitely seems to have feelings for me but I have no idea whether they are legitimate or on impulse because two months ago, he got out of a really bad divorce and I can relate to that because you know….and as he was telling me about all of the shit that went on between him and his ex-wife and I told him about the shit I went through with Kion and we just became really comfortable with each other." Rani said.

"That's cool, I hope it someday works out for you." Jasiri said.

"Yeah and Jasiri it's kind of funny that we both either dated or married the same lion and his violent behavior coincidentally led us to be interested in one of our human colleagues." Rani said.

"Actually Rani, I've dated a few humans before Kion and after Kion I did have one Tinder date or two, but those did not end well. Let's just hope these attempts at dating humans will work out for the both of us." Jasiri said.

The group soon walked towards the shrine with their bouquets.

Edwin P.O.V:

Beshte and I were having a casual conversation with Kiara, Kovu and a random person from the guest relations department, in which this person was a woman with long dark hair, nearly black with slightly lighter brown highlights, while wearing a turquoise, blue and green paisley blouse and black pants. I was just talking about my research, while Kovu brought up some of his work in the artifact conservation lab.

"Yeah, my research group and I have just started an extension of our initial study on the effects of changes of a surrounding environment to the molecular integrity of lichen genomes, which can help us determine the patterns of the genetic evolution of organisms that inhabit specific biomes. How is your work on those Mayan artifacts your lab received?" I asked.

"Your research sounds pretty interesting Edwin, and the restoration process of those Mayan artifacts is going well, although we did have a close call when one of my interns almost applied the wrong glue on an old vase, but luckily we found the right glue before the wrong glue was applied" Kovu said.

"It's a good thing too because the last time one of his interns screwed up on something, he ranted about it at home for nearly two days straight." Kiara said.

"Come on, Kiara, I didn't complain about it that much…" Kovu playfully said

"Oh yes you did Kovu, during that last time one of your interns messed up, you discussed it for hours with me and one of the colleagues from my department." Kiara replies.

"Yeah, I get that, my sister constantly tells me stories of crazy things that happen at her workplace and it can get a little repetitive after a while." The guest relations worker said, whose name I learned was Karla.

"What does your sister do, Karla?" Beshte asked.

"She works as an E.R doctor and you cannot believe how much stuff she tells me that happens on a daily basis." Karla said, which led all of us in the group to give empathetic understanding expressions for Karla.

"That's interesting Karla, because I've seen television shows about crazy stuff that happens in ERs and based on what your sister tells you, how much of it do you think is accurate?" Beshte asked.

"I guess that depends on the show because there are some that are pretty accurate, especially the ones that film directly in the ER, but my sister tells me that a couple of the shows that have dramatizations could be slightly exaggerated in regards to the emotions of those playing the physicians or patients." Karla said.

"Yeah, I get that, I have a cousin who's a nurse and they sometimes talk to me about the differences between real-life nurses and the fictionalized nurses on shows like Grey's Anatomy." I said.

We continued to talk for a little bit until we heard the sound of a microphone turn on and we heard a familiar voice sound out.

"Hello friends, we will begin the meeting in five minutes, please proceed to enter the lecture hall down the hall to take your seats. Don't forget to leave your bouquets at the memorial if you have not done so already." Rafiki's voice said through nearby speakers.

After hearing that announcement, most of us in the plaza headed down the hallway. I'm curious about what will go on during this meeting…..well I guess I just have to wait and see to find out.


	22. Chapter 22: Shares

**Author's Note:** Hello readers, I apologize for the delay, I hope you enjoy this next chapter. During the testimonies sections, anytime you see three dots between phrases in this chapter, that means that a different person will be giving their testimony after the person mentioned before the dots. Also this is my longest chapter yet so I apologize if this causes any inconveniences, I hope you enjoy.

Third Person P.O.V:

The group of humans and hybrids was walking down the hallway while continuing their conversations from the time before the announcement, including a conversation between Jasiri, Makini and Rani.

"Really?!...a tranquilizer gun?!..." Rani said.

"Yeah, when Edwin first discovered about us being hybrids and realized it wasn't a hallucination or practical joke, he thought he walked into some classified government experiment and ran. He was too fast for Rafiki to get his tea so he basically had to get a tranquilizer gun he had for some reason, and we had to drag Edwin's unconscious body to Rafiki's office so that we could explain the whole thing to him." Jasiri said.

"Yeah, I remember that you initially thought that it was a real gun and freaked out when you first saw Edwin unconscious." Makini said.

"In my defense, it looked similar to a real gun and I freaked out because it reminded me of a few of the random killings that first occurred in the Outlands in the early days of the droughts." Jasiri said.

"Okay, that's fair…..I went more smoothly when my colleague Pete first found out, we just invited him to Rafiki's office, let ourselves transform in front of him, while Rafiki gave him his famous tea to help him calm down….Wait...Rani….does your colleague Henry know about...you know…." Makini said in a curious tone.

"Oh yeah….he found out about my lioness form a while ago and let's just say when he first saw my anthropomorphic lioness form...let's just say he fainted out of shock which was slightly awkward because we basically just finished this School Improvement day event and I had to wait for him to wake up to explain the whole thing." Rani said.

"Yeah, I noticed that humans always act so strange when we first show them our hybrid forms." Jasiri said as the group continued to walk down the hallway.

Edwin P.O.V:

We were all walking down the hallway until we ended up in front of a tall gray door, through which we entered into a lecture hall in which there were almost two dozen rows of seats, but only like four of those rows will be occupied since there is only about fifty of us in the entire group, I guess there was limited availability in lecture halls tonight.

All of the seats seem to have red cushioning, and in front of these seats is a stage which stands below a white screen from which I assume was left over from the last lecture in this room. There is also a wooden podium facing the front of the stage with a small microphone attached to the top.

As we came into the lecture hall, Rafiki basically numbered us off so that each human will sit between two hybrids and each hybrid will sit between two humans. Unfortunately I did not get assigned to be next to Jasiri…..but I did get assigned next to Vuruga so at least I know one person next to me. The other hybrid I sat next to was an anthropomorphic white bird in a security guard uniform, I read the name tag of his uniform and I saw it said _Ono_, and I recognize the name as that of a security guard that frequents the second floor. As I looked behind me, I noticed the Jasiri was two rows behind me between these two people whom I don't know, so they are probably from other departments.

After five minutes of getting settled in, I saw Rafiki get on the stage and walked towards the podium and tapped the microphone in order to test it. After a couple of taps, the crowd became silent.

"Hello friends, colleagues and guests...welcome to the first meeting of the Field Museum's Human-Hybrid Alliance. I am Rafiki Mwongozo from the Human Resources department and I am forming this organization in order to improve relations between the human and hybrid workers of this museum, which I hope can help improve the perception of hybrids in human society, as well as help gain a better understanding of both sides experiences so that we will be a better community for each other." Rafiki said, which was followed by applause from everyone in the audience, including myself.

"Let us start off with this….today, July 30, 2019….it has been twenty-one years since the day we first became hybrids and entered human society. Whether our previous homes, friends and family were brought down by a coup, chaos or months of long drought, we all ended up facing the obstacles that we endured in experiencing life as humans while we transform into two-legged versions of our species every single night. During tonight's session hybrids will come up to share some of the obstacles they have faced either in our previous homelands and our obstacles adjusting to the human world. Humans, you will share any emotional or personal life obstacles you have faced and discuss why you have joined this organization. Before we start, let us have a moment of silence for those who have passed during the Tree of Life coup, and as a result of the Great Drought that afflicted the Outlands and Pride Lands…" Rafiki said, then leaning his head down towards the podium as part of the moment of silence and everyone else in the audience, including myself did the same.

The room was silent for the first two minutes until Rafiki began to speak again.

"Okay, now let's begin today's meeting with personal accounts of our personal lives, would it be okay if I go first?.." He asked, which was followed with most people saying _Sure _or _That's fine with me_.

Third Person P.O.V.

"Okay, I'll go first...So as you know my name is Rafiki Mwongozo and I work at the Human Resources department here at the museum but before my transformation into a hybrid, I used to be a royal Mjuzi of the Pride Lands. What was a mjuzi to be exact….we you can say it was an advisor to the Royal family of the Pride Lands, but I was also what you would call a master of ceremonies, a historian, a healer and a spiritual advisor for the entire Pride Lands. Ever since I was young, I saw being mjuzi as my life's duty and desire….but when the drought came, I honestly felt hopeless and felt as if there was nothing I can do to fix the situation and when I transformed into a hybrid...I realized that my role as Pride Lands mjuzi permanently came to an abrupt end. When I was adjusting to the human world at first, I had no idea what to do because I had previously invested my entire life in being a mjuzi and now at my age, I'm starting from square one. It was difficult at first because before working for the museum's human resource department, I had a total of nearly thirty jobs over a span of twelve or thirteen years. So I guess I became interested in Human Resources because not only am I closer to my personal friends but I get to help fellow employees and visitors improve their experiences, so in a way, I felt that I have regained part of my old self from this job since I get to work with colleagues and other people on a daily basis….." Rafiki said.

...

"...So yeah, after Hadithi disappeared after our last 'conversation', things in the Pride Lands just started to get even worse in the Pride Lands, whether it is chaos from the dwindling resources and populations or the pressure to try to maintain peace when I myself am secretly stressing my mind away. A few days later, we decided to begin the search for more fertile lands, we met the guy we came to know as 'the shaman' and gave us the injections that changed our lives forever. After I woke up to first see myself in my human form, you wouldn't have believed the shock I felt because suddenly in my sleep, my physical appearance changes, my feathers beak and talons are gone, I can no longer fly and I have grown taller. I also noticed that my voice was slightly higher than I remembered and 'the shaman' told me that for some reason I transformed into human age 10, which I didn't know was a juvenile stage for humans. Why was I transformed to a human of that age, I didn't know, but I still had all my memories as an adult eagle. I was made to live with my assigned guide, I experienced my first transformation into the anthropomorphic form of my eagle form. The first few minutes I was just plain confused and wondered what this shaman did to my body, but then I felt this sense of euphoria as a possible return to my old life. So one time I tried to see if I could fly again by jumping off the bed that was in my room but all that did was sprain one of my ankles. I was pretty disappointed to find out that even when I will transform into an anthropomorphic version of my old self, I cannot fly like my old self. Then came my next obstacle...my guide told me I have to learn some new stuff for this thing called 'school' human juveniles go to, and let me just tell you, my first year of school was a whole new level of awkward for me…" Anga discussed.

...

"...During the drought, I lost basically half of my elephant herd from complications of dehydration or starvation from the drought. Several others just abandoned our former homelands, not being able to emotionally understand everything that was going on around us and a few were hunted. When I became the only living elephant left in the Pride Lands, I just remember feeling an immense amount of guilt because I felt that I let my entire herd down and when I transformed into a hybrid, similar to Rafiki's experience, I was confused of what I was going to do with my life, so I began to take night classes when I had the free time and I began to develop an interest in the sciences because it was the study of the formation, functions and behaviors of the natural and inorganic phenomenon present on both this planet and the universe. When started to learn more about cells, molecules and genes, it made me curious about the molecular basis of our daily transformations and made me thought that perhaps when I have the resources, perhaps I can further explore my curiosity whether it might be finding the molecular basis of how our transformations were possible to a deeper understanding of some of the molecular or natural phenomenon on this planet. I guest you can say that even when I was working other jobs at first, I was drawn to science because it offered investigations and explanations of concepts or items I didn't even know existed. I stayed in Tanzania for two years, after which I moved to the United States under my friends' suggestions and let's just say it first took quite some time to fully adjust to this change in location…" Ma Tembo recalled.

...

"...The next several weeks after my transformation mostly consisted of my guide teaching Makuu and I skills that we needed in the human world such as learning how to read, write, do basic math, chores, teaching us about what exactly money is, and teaching us certain concepts of society and human interactions. Eventually, since I was transformed at human age 7, my guide told me I had to go to a place called school. I was placed in what humans called second grade after paperwork was completed. In my mind, the classroom was a safeplace for me because I was in an environment in which I was able to nurture the curiosities I had of my new world and my search for what I might want to do for the rest of my life in this world. Even when my teachers seem to have sympathized with me and my situation, most of my classmates were not, many of them called me names or always picked on me for being the so-called weird girl who always read in the corner during our recess period rather than playing in the courtyard like all of the others. With my lack of major social life, I mostly just read during my freetime as I was gradually adjusting more to the human world, which actually helped me excelled in school. Around two years after that, my guide was offered a work position in Milwaukee in the United States and soon Makuu and I also moved there from Tanzania and let me say that it was difficult to adjust to the winters there and sometimes I still have trouble adjusting to the winters here in Chicago. Soon after moving there, I began fourth grade in the US, even when I still excelled in my classes, I still had many difficulties trying to form new friendships. There were several occasions where there were school events in the evening or night and many of my classmates and teachers saw my hyena form, and even when the teachers seemed sympathetic about my situation, that did not stop the name calling from my classmates to get worse than it was than my old school in Tanzania. Everyday I was called names like _werewolf, dog-girl, freak_, and many others. I didn't really make a close friend or so until I reached high school, which was also where I ended up with another obstacle….what am I going to do after I graduate ..." Jasiri said.

...

"...Throughout the duration of my first two years of living in human society, I kept feeling some sort of guilt because I was supposed to be the future Queen of the Pride Lands and with the many deaths or departures that took place during the drought, I just felt that there was something I could have done even when I know there was nothing I could have done to stop the drought. It was difficult adjusting to human society because for all my life I was training to be the future queen of the Pride Lands and now all of the sudden, I can't do that anymore and I needed a new plan for my life. There was just so much to navigate for me in the human world ranging from school, social interactions and basic life-skills. Even when I was doing emotionally okay in school, more obstacles came when my family and I came to the US because that was the summer before I started sixth grade, and that was going to be my first year of something called middle school and after that began, my time in middle school were the three most awkward years in my life. Even when my mate Kovu and I ended up in the same city, we had different guides so we went to different middle schools, but we ended up in the same high school. It was a little difficult to emotionally go through because my mate was at a different school, I am at a new school in which I knew nobody, and I felt I almost had no one to confide to because my younger brother went to a separate elementary school, and my parents were still trying to figure out their new lives, so I guess you can say I felt trapped and isolated during that time…." Kiara said.

...

"...I was confused at human society at first because back in the Pride Lands, I was used to being the one to keep track of things and do my best to try to maintain order or settle certain matters with the best of my abilities. When I first experienced human society, I was just confused because there was so much chaos and disorder on this entire planet and human society itself and sometimes it bothers me that in many cases, I cannot really have any direct control over it. I had particular difficulties when I ever saw something about politics because I didn't realize how sporadic world politics can get. I was already confused on what to do for now since I cannot be a majordomo anymore since my position no longer exists. Sometimes it was a little confusing to navigate my new life in a world I knew absolutely nothing about, that confusion seemed to have amplified when I tried to find a job while also attending night school classes to catch up with the average education of a human adult..." Zazu said.

...

"...There were some things about human society I still haven't adjusted to at that time. I got picked on a lot because to several of my classmates, I was this creepy loner kid. Which meant that I spent a lot of study halls and lunch periods in the library, which was where I started to read out of boredom and I was particularly fond of the books the school had on the history of ancient human civilizations, archaeology and even the occasional physical sciences book. So I guess you can say all of that time in the library was how I first got introduced to the field of artifact conservation. So yeah, I basically spent a large chunk of my free time in middle school in the library. So I checked a few books out once in a while and read them during my free time, usually after I finished my homework. Other than that, before Kiara and I were reunited in high school, middle school was pretty much three years of torture since I basically got either picked on me for being a loner or for those who have seen my lion form….afraid that I would some how get mad and claw them to death. Despite that, I have really been involved in two physical altercations at that school and let me tell you, even when my mother trained me how to fight as a cub, those techniques did not do a damn thing for me in the courtyard. When I don't have sharp claws and teeth, all my mother's fighting techniques only helped me get two trips to the nurse's office. There was one moment where I came close being involved in a fight in my lion form, but after I transformed that particular night they basically just ran away. Now let me tell you about when I got to high school….." Kovu recalled.

...

"...I was in a similar situation, about half of my herd died from the drought or just plainly abandoned me. I was confused because I had no idea what to do and there was nothing I could do to stop the drought in any way. After my transformation into a hybrid, I remembered that my first human job ever was as a custodian at the village's high school. I think that helped sparked my initial interest in science because as I cleaned the science labs in that building, I was mesmerized by the equipment I saw in the laboratory. Of course no one was using them because I clean the labs after school hours in most cases but anyway I became curious about these unique pieces of equipment I have never seen before in my life. After my shift ends, I try to look up more information about these pieces of equipment, whether it is through books or online. This also enabled me to get to explore the fields that each piece of equipment was associated with. I particularly became fond of the biological and molecular sciences. When I moved to the US, I was trying everything to keep up with my goals towards my new goals in my human life because after earning my GED, I had to shift between community college classes during the day and custodial shifts at night. Some of my obstacles changed when I briefly lived in Florida to complete my undergraduate degree…." Bupu discussed.

...

"...I was still trying to fathom the massive betrayal from Surak and Nirmala because they helped me gain my sight back and find a place at the Tree of Life...but to cause all those lives lost and forced my friends and I out of the places they helped give us, I was just heartbroken, devastated and hurt that two lions that helped me in the past just forced me out of the life I grew to love. I was still trying to get over the loss I experienced in the Tree of Life when the drought in the Pride Lands hit. There was so much death, at times I wish my eyesight didn't return to normal so that I can avoid seeing all the misery and death around me, but it was too late for that since the images were already implanted in my brain. In particular, there was a bird that I personally knew that I was close to, who was helping feed her daughter amidst the drought. She was probably one of the most humble birds I ever met because she tried everything to keep her daughter alive with dwindling resources, but she also reduced her own food intake for her daughter to survive longer which eventually contributed to her death from starvation. After the mother died, I tried my best to try to take care of her daughter but with continuously dwindling food sources along with a sporadic patrol schedule, it was still not enough and within a week or two of her mother's death, her body just gave up from a combination of starvation and dehydration. Witnessing all the death I saw was one of the toughest obstacles in my life and those memories created impediments after my transformation into a hybrid when it came to adjusting to the human world. In my first year as a hybrid in the human world, I had trouble associating with most of the non-hybrid humans around me because I was just afraid of the unknowns of the results of such communications…." Ono said.

...

"...After a few members of my herd left the Pride Lands, I ended up losing the rest of my herd to starvation or dehydration and I was basically all alone from there. When the last member of my herd died, I was not only depressed over the loss of my friend, but I was also angry, confused and just insecure because I was wondering what I was going to do since I no longer have a herd. Once I transformed into a hybrid, I was facing a whole new set of obstacles because along with adjusting to a new life, I also had to find out my purpose in this world since I can no longer be a herd leader or even a herd member. In the village I got a job working at a local market helping customers with their merchandise or being the cashier part of the time, while taking night classes after each of my shifts. I used to listen to the radio frequently and I usually have it tuned to the news station where I listen to discussions about current events. I was particularly interested in the science discussions and I remembered the discussion that peaked my interest in genetics was one on the molecular basis on genetically modified organisms. That discussion peaked my interests in genetics because it made me curious on how alterations in a genome can affect the long term health and physical impacts of living organisms, which made me more curious about the role of genetic alterations in my own transformation. Eventually, I earned my GED, moved to the US and got a job as a night cashier at a supermarket while taking community college courses during the day and now I was struggling to juggle all those for my first two years in this country….." Vuruga said.

...

"After all of the death I saw at both the Tree of Life ad the Pride Lands, I felt that I have completely failed my duty as a Mjuzi in both of those land because I fled the first land out of pressure because I would have been executed if I stayed, while a series of catastrophic climate events damaged the land and residents of the second location. After my transformation and first adjusting to the human world, I was totally confused because like Rafiki said earlier, I was also destined to be a mjuzi and had no idea what to do after that. As I was trying to figure myself out, I just decided to focus on school and learning life skills. I was confused about which direction I was heading to with my interests because i was enjoying what I am learning from my lessons in art, history and science but I can't really decide which area of study I liked best. This lasted both my first two years as a human in Tanzania and my first year in the US, but then I reached what humans called fifth grade. One day, I was running away from this classmate who used to pick on me and they eventually stopped following me when recess ended and we had to get back in the building, which the period after recess was when my class had library period that day. I was sitting against some shelves one day and a book fell from one of the shelves and fell on my head. It didn't hurt and I wanted to see what was the book that fell on me and the cover of the book was an image of the alpha-helix structure of DNA and the title 'Introduction to DNA, RNA and the World of Genetics'. I never read the book before so I got curious and checked the book out for a week and read it during my freetime and let's just say that book basically changed my life because it introduced me to a whole new world of possibilities for my life. I feverishly read that book whenever I had the freetime to do so, which eventually fueled my interests in genetics and the molecular sciences ..." Makini recalled.

...

"...So during the drought, everything was going downhill for everyone in the Pride Lands, not only in the losses of resources but the devastating loss of lives too. Several friends and acquaintances I knew died in the course of the drought, while a few straight up abandoned us. I once knew a lioness named Zuri, and two of us were best friends since we were infants. I remembered when we were cubs, she, Kiara and I used to hang out with each other all the time, talking about how Kiara was going to be queen of the Pride Lands and we will act as her advisors and such. Eventually when we grew up, Kiara started to spend slightly more time with her mate Kovu, but I was alright with that because she really loves the guy and even if we slightly grew apart, we still found time to talk to each other and plus I still had Zuri to hangout with. When the drought began in the Pride Lands, our friendship became much more strained. We started to argue more frequently, practically once or twice everyday, they first started out as small heated discussions on the dwindling resources and malnourished populations but within a week or so they became full on screaming matches ranging on topics such as the deaths around us, which include both of our mothers, as well as the distribution of resources to its residents. I used to get so mad because she was acting so arrogant and seemed to try to act on what is going on around us. One night, we had one of our worst fights yet, basically she was accusing me of being a bad friend, being inconsiderate to 'her needs' and refusing to see her side of the story in certain situations. I responded to her telling her that I was listening to her, but she just denied claims and ranted about some of the most pointless shit. I just had it there and basically called her an arrogant, inconsiderate and manipulative lioness who only seemed to care about the things that pertain to her life and did not even give me an ounce of empathy when my mom died when I basically gave her all my condolences when her mom died. Sure there might have been times where she was still grieving but reflecting back on those arguments we had, noting she seemed to briefly mention Kiara in each of the arguments such 'if Kiara still hanged out with us then so-and-so' or 'I wish that Kiara were here'. This made me realize that she still hasn't gotten over Kiara and us growing apart and I told her that I can try to be there for her as best as she can but she snarky replied that I wouldn't provide the royal family benefits Kiara did. The argument went on for several minutes with me continuing to call her out on being egoistic and just plain inconsiderate. After that everything between us became silent for the rest of the day...it was the worst argument we had. The next morning me and the other remaining lions and lionesses in the pride woke up, and to our surprise we found that Zuri completely disappeared, no scent could be tracked, no one could find her or have seen her since last night….she just ...disappeared. We don't know how or where she was going, but all we knew was Zuri most likely abandoned the pride and hid her scent so no one from her old life could find her. I was just devastated that this was the manner in which our friendship ended and this haunted me during both my last days in the Pride Lands and my adjustment to the human world. Even today I'm still curious about where Zuri goes off too. Knowing the average lifespan of a lion, she is definitely dead by now, but I can't help wondering how and where she died and was there anyone for her before she died…." Tiifu recalled.

...

"...Yeah, so after my dad died, I was beginning to gradually lose hope that things will get back to normal. I was still trying to get over the massacre at the Tree of Life and the deaths I've seen so far . I started to spend more time with this elephant named Mtoto, who used to practically idolize me when I was in the Lion Guard. We used to help with relief efforts to combat the drought in the Pride Lands...but I eventually saw that the drought was starting to get to him emotionally. He seemed to have become depressed and distressed about the whole situation of the drought itself, ranging from the deaths all around us to the desolation of a once fertile and prominent land. This went on for a while...but the final straw for him was when his mother succumbed to to dehydration a few weeks after he joined me in relief efforts...he was never really the same after his mother's passing. He basically became much more emotionally distant, more depressed than usual and it became much harder for him to handle since he was also suffering from moderate malnutrition and dehydration from the constant decreases of resources. One day, I noticed that Mtoto was more distant or seemed more distressed than usual and he basically had this expression of destitute on his face, I felt bad for him and told him that he could take the next few days off because along with emotionally detached, he seemed to been lacking a lot of physical energy at the moment and it almost appeared that he was on the early stages of emaciation, he thanked me for the offer, told me goodbye and that it's been a pleasure knowing him and then just walked away. About two days later, I was on one of my daily patrols and I was walking around this dry area of the Pride Lands and I saw Mtoto was lying underneath a tree. I wanted to check on him, so I approached him and decided to say hi to him and see if he was okay...there was no response and I was going to leave them alone...but as I decided to pat his back to wish him a good rest….I felt that it was colder than usual and I felt no movement from his body, so I decided to try to wake him up but nothing happened so I went to get Rafiki and Makini, brought them to Mtoto and the checked on him...and the say that he was dead and has been so most likely for around two days...Of course I was saddened by the death of my friend, but what saddened me the most was recalling the last time we spoke to each other and how he told me 'goodbye' and 'it's been a pleasure knowing you'...which was about two days prior to that….This made me realize that the last day I spoke to Mtoto was most likely also the day he died. I felt both depressed and guilty because I let him die all alone. So Rafiki and Makini went along to tell Ma Tembo the bad news. Even when it was sad that he died but in his last few weeks alive he was distressed emotionally and physically, so I am at least relieved that he finally found peace now….." Beshte recalled.

...

"...At that moment, I was devastated and stressed because not only were there decreasing resources in the Pride Lands growing scarce, but my mate also died from starvation. So not only did I have to go through the grief of losing my mate, but I had a son to take care of as well to both help him navigate the drought but also help him deal with the grief of losing his father. I was also juggling those tasks with running my herd. Unfortunately, the drought seemed too much for the rest of my herd because a quarter of them died from conditions related to the drought while every day since the drought, and of the ones that didn't die, at least one zebra abandoned my herd per day. Eventually the last zebra in my herd died, my son Hamu and I were the only zebras left in the Pride Lands and what was only one day before Rafiki gave the announcement that we all had to leave the Pride Lands due to lack of hope for the lands to return to its original state. When we first transformed into hybrids, Hamu was transformed to human age 5 so he had to go to elementary school with humans that were also new to the school. Even with him still pertaining to a large chunk of his memories of the Pride Lands, I have seen Hamu grow up again in the human world while I was juggling work and classes at the same time as that. He's now in grad school studying to be a psychologist. He lives in New York now so sometimes it can be lonely at home. Even when I am proud of what he has accomplished, there are some cases where I also feel sad because with all the information he has taken in from the human world, his memories of the Pride Lands seems to be dwindling, particularly those involving his father. Even when Hamu and I totally moved on from his passing a long time ago, I don't want him to be totally forgotten and sometimes I'm concerned Hamu might be heading on that pathway….." Muhimu said.

...

"...So after Pumbaa died in the drought, I was both devastated and confused because even when I still had Bunga with me, I felt alone for some reason. I initially only thought of my relationship with Pumbaa as a strong friendship but after his death I felt it was something more than that. Eventually, after I became a hybrid, I started to explore more about myself on certain aspects of my life which range from my goals in life to personal relationships and even my sexuality. As I continued to adjust to my new life in the human world, I began to realize that before the drought, my relationship with Pumbaa was more than just a friendship...I eventually knew that the relationship I had of him was one between two lovers and part of me felt that I always knew this. This realization really helped me when I came out two years into my human life. I eventually started dating and let's just say it was rough for the first three years because I was still getting used to the whole concept. I then got a serious relationship with this guy, which lasted for like five years, but then it was no longer working out since he got a new job in Atlanta and we broke up after a failed year of a long distance relationship. I was back on the dating scene for another two years with a few very brief relationships within that period of time. There was another guy for about three or four years, but then I caught him cheating on me so I dumped him. Five years ago, I met my current boyfriend, Gary, and suddenly I've felt something that I have not really felt before in any of my prior relationships….a sense of comfort and familiarity that I haven't really felt in a relationship in a long time….not since before Pumbaa died. So yeah the two of us have been together ever since….." Timon discusses.

...

"...Sometimes I still can't believe how much my life has changed over the past twenty one years. I initially thought that the transition from Outlander to leader of the Lion Guard was impossible, so this would have been nonsensical to my former self. When the drought occurred I was trying my best to help everyone in the Pride Lands and my guard but the drought was just too powerful and even when my guard and I originated from an environment lacking in resources but this time the lack of resources was taking a toll on both me and my guard. For example, there was a member of my guard, Kasi, could no longer handle the death, gradually decreasing resources and the stress around her and involved in her job as a Lion Guard, and she eventually flat out left the Pride Lands for more arable lands. Shabaha and Tamaza both died due to combined factors of starvation, dehydration and exhaustion that ended up taking extremely bad tolls on their bodies. Imara eventually did become a hybrid like the rest of us, but unlike the rest of us, she preferred to stay in Tanzania and moved to Dar Es Salaam. We still stay in touch despite being in different continents, and she eventually married a human and I think they had a son together. Anyway, sometimes I still can't believe how much my life has changed because I went from being a fighter in the Outlands to the leader of the Pride Lands' Lion Guard, which evolved to human/hybrid middle school student, then high school student, college student and the museum tour guide. It is also strange to think of what I can do now because when I was a full lioness all I did was fight, negotiate and moderate conflicts, but when I became a hybrid I gained these skills that I never thought even existed back then. For example, back then, I never thought that I will proficiently be able to speak six languages because even when I have pretty much always understood English and Swahili, I never expected that I would eventually learn and pick up French, Spanish, Mandarin and Tagalog. Yeah...sometimes it's crazy where life can take you…." Vitani said.

...

"...Yeah so when we were escaping the Tree of Life coup and I have noticed that my mate Azaad was starting to show signs of exhaust on our way to the Pride Lands...I initially thought that this exhaust was just fatigue from the fight we put up in escaping the coup earlier so I was not suspicious, but then I began to notice that along our journey, he began to take more frequent breaks in which he has prolonged coughing fits during most of those breaks. We were about a week away from the Pride Lands when I noticed that his symptoms were getting worse noting that he was starting to develop a bad fever, he was walking slower than usual and he had more frequent cough breaks. Two days before we arrived back in the Pride Lands, now I knew something was wrong because now he was starting to cough out blood and he could no longer walk or run frequently anymore and Beshte had to carry him from there while Makini checked on his vitals. By the time we arrived in the Pride Lands, Azaad was passed out on Beshte's back and we immediately took Rafiki to see if he could be treated. After a day or two Rafiki and Makini tried everything but they said that nothing could be done and the next day Azaad passed away in his sleep, allegedly from combining factors of a respiratory infection and some unknown illness that Rafiki was never able to figure out. I was devastated, which increased when the drought happened and every death during that time just reminded me of Azaad's last days and sometimes I still had trouble getting over it when I entered human society. But eventually, I did get over it when I began sixth grade because I was too focused on the new stresses of starting middle school and getting used to a newer school even when I have been in the United States for around two years at that point. It was pretty lonely because I had to get used to changing classrooms every hour while also trying to find out more about myself. While heading off to study hall, I was looking at a bulletin board and saw a flyer indicating cross country tryouts and I asked this random student passing by what exactly cross country is and they told me that it was a form of running on open terrain instead of a track in most cases. I was intrigued because I used to run frequently when I was in the Pride Lands so I thought that I can try to run slightly more so a few days later I went to cross country tryouts, tried out and after a few days I saw my name on a list that indicates that I made the team. I was surprised because I thought that I ran slow during the tryouts. I guess that even when I am no longer a full cheetah, I can still be pretty fast in human standards, which is pretty slow compared to cheetah standards. So yeah I started going to cross country practice and meets and I generally get along with my teammates, even when there was that awkward night where I transformed into my cheetah form in front of them before one of our overnight meets, but that's another story. I actually excelled on that team and when the fall season ended, my coaches and teammates recommended that I tryout for track and field during the spring. Honestly I got to say that I enjoyed track and field more because I am able to sprint more frequently. I did cross country and track and field for the rest of middle school, all of high school and all of college, while I was also conquering other obstacles in adjusting to the human world….." Fuli recalled.

...

"...So the rest of the Night Pride and Lion Guard showed up and asked about some group of rogues Nirmala and Surak brought to us…..but we were confused because we told the group that we saw neither Surak, Nirmala nor the supposed group of rogues they mentioned. All of the sudden we heard some growls and screams and the rest of us headed towards the source of the commotion and I cannot forget what I just saw….there were several bodies mostly of deer and even a bird, with a group of four unknown lions and we had a heated exchange of words and found out that they were involved in a group planning some new order. We then heard another commotion from somewhere and I told a few guard members to try to handle those four ions while me and a few other guard members went to the source of the second commotion. We approached the tundra region of the kingdom….and I could not comprehend the massacre that we have seen. There were just several bodies, including those of a polar bear, several penguins and several other animals who reside there. There were four more lions...assuming the rest of the group of rogues among the now blood-stained snow. They began to approach us to attack and we fought them off for several minutes, and they suspiciously gave up in a short amount of time and ran off who knows where. We began to tell people to take cover since there was the first group of rogues that are still to worry about as well as concerned about the rogues we fought off ever coming back. So we ran towards the Tree of Life to see if we could meet up with the rest of the members and then we started to hear many more screams around us…..As we ran we noticed that none of us had seen either Surak or Nirmala in a while and wondered what was happening to them. We came back to the Tree of Life and met up with the other half of the guard and they said that the rogues they handled put up quite the fight until they ran off into the forest. While we were talking we were surrounded by nearly sixteen rogues and soon after another exchange of words, a fight ensued and we were able to hold them off for a while and soon half of them decided just to move on to other parts of the land to continue what they started as we fought the other eight. This conflict went on for a little longer until we managed to escape...except a honey badger, Binga, who was with us at the time said she wanted to fight them off to avoid them from chasing us, which eventually led to her demise. As we were running we found out that there were much more rogues than expected. There were bodies scattered all over the place while survivors are trying to run for their lives to leave the land...practically being forced to leave. We were running and we happened to run into Surak and Nirmala who were surprisingly calm and not reacting to the chaos around them. They claimed that they went out to settle a few affairs, and then my brother, Baliyo started to ask more questions and the pair's answers started to become increasingly suspicious to us. Eventually after several moments of exchange they eventually made a signal after which a large group of rogues surrounded us, with the two of them joining the circle, which was our first realization that Surak and Nirmala are involved in this attack. Eventually they revealed all of their planning they did over a period of several months, noting that they weren't just involved but were the main orchestrators of this attack, which I now realized was a coup. We tried to lead with them to try to see if we could make a compromise between us and their newly formed army of rogues...but they were going and as my brother Baliyo….. finished his last pleas and critiques on the whole situation….Surak said that he was disappointed on how 'naive' he was and then...proceeded to pin him down and and bit on his neck until it made and unsettling crunch sound and Surak ripped the insides of Baliyo's neck out with his teeth…..I basically couldn't do anything but scream and even when I tried to go and fight Surak over Baliyo's death but Nirmala pinned me down before I could do so and then another fight ensued between us and the rogues and this time we were starting to feel more exhausted of fighting and these rogues clearly weren't giving up. During the struggle we were able to kill one of the rogues and then after several minutes of fighting we came at a standoff. Surak and Nirmala told us that they ruled that lands now and control an army of dozens of rogues that will do anything at their beck and call for their 'new kingdom' to be realized. They then told us that we basically had two options, one leave the Tree of Life in a state of exile or stay and be executed with more slaughter to come to the land's remaining residents. I was having trouble to decide at first but I looked at my then mate and the guard and all of them are starting to get worn out from the fight which we were probably going to lose if we continued...I then looked at my brother's dead body and the rest of the bloodied bodies that were littered across the land and the last thing I wanted was for more innocent people to be killed. It was a difficult decision but then it became unanimous between me and the rest of my group….we had to leave. Surak and Nirmala seemed satisfied with my decision and basically said that they will have two of their rogues watching behind us to make sure that we leave. So the group and I began our trek out of the land I was born and raised in and we have seen a full extent of the slaughter and devastation they caused, it was one body after the next while we ran with others who were forced off the land and running for their lives. For example, I saw the body of a tigress that I once helped with the bodies of two of her cubs, while the other cub survived. I saw that she was crying and looking over the dead bodies of her mother and siblings and then a musk deer ran over to her and told her to get on his back because they needed to leave to avoid death, so the cub complied and they ran out going to who knows where. My mate, the rest of the guard and I decided to go to their former homelands, the Pride Lands...and...and...I'm sorry Rafki is it okay if I stop here? I guess there are some things I would rather save for another time…" Rani said while trying to hold back her tears.

"Okay...sure no problem…." Rafiki said with an understanding look on his face as Rani walked back to her seat.

...

"...So yeah I was going through something similar to what Muhimu said earlier, I also lost my mate during the drought and I was also taking care of my daughter while I was navigating through my grief. Then we left the Pride Lands, met 'the shaman' and transformed to hybrids. I was pretty shocked when I first saw my human form after the shaman's injections, and when I saw my anthropomorphic giraffe form that night I was surprised that my neck, even when long in human standards, was nowhere near the length it was when I was a full giraffe. So after that year, I pretty much went through a similar thing as Muhimu and we were even roommates for a couple of years with both of our kids. Along the process, I watched my daughter grow up again in human society and sometimes I cannot believe that she went from being a giraffe in the Pride Lands to a violinist in an orchestra in Los Angeles. Even when I am proud of her achievements, I got concerned because she has a good memory when it comes to what she learns in the human world , but she seems to be forgetting many of the memories from her life in the Pride Lands…." Twiga said.

...

"So yeah, my name is Makuu Mamba, I work in the fossil preparation department and I was part of the crocodile float in the Pride Lands...That's all I need to say." Makuu said as he was about to leave.

"Wait Makuu...aren't you going to share anything else about your experience or answer any questions some people might have?" Rafiki asked, leading to Makuu letting out a slightly irritated sigh.

"Fine….anyone have any questions?..." Makuu reluctantly asked.

A human woman who had red hair, a black shirt and skirt raised her hand.

"Okay….you with the red hair?" Makuu said reluctantly, in which the red-haired woman stood up.

"Okay, so when the drought occurred in the Pride Lands, what did the leader of your crocodile float try to alleviate the damages of the drought?" The woman said.

"What did my leader do?...Actually I was the leader of the float...and to answer your question, I tried to alleviate damage to my float by trying to set up a food ration system to make sure that we don't spoil all our resources on one meal. The system worked out at first...but that was until the resources of the Pride Lands further decreased. It was already unusual for us because we crocodiles usually hibernated during the Dry Season but we had to stop that early because Simba said that with the increased heat and decrease in resources, we could risk dying of heat stroke or dehydration in our sleep if we hibernated. Also the cave we usually slept in for the Dry Season needed to be used as a place to treat those who might suffer severe cases of dehydration. Despite following it, I initially was irritated by Simba's request…..but that irritation wore off incredibly quickly as I saw the effects of the drought on its residents...and it did not take long for those impacts to reach my float. Despite the initial success of the rationing system, it failed quickly as available resources started to decrease. Soon as each day of the drought passed by, I saw the bodies of each member of my float degraded in a slow, devastating process and then one-by-one they started to die. Even when I was devastated by the loss of the majority of my float at that time, my spirits were maintained by a gecko named Hodari. Despite being a gecko, we considered him an honorary member of our float and he tried his best to try to lift our spirits amidst tragedy. But one day, while me, Hodari and the remaining crocodiles of my float were walking to try to hunt for our food rations for the day….and we then saw this large bird and it was one date we had not seen before, so we were a bit surprised. Initially I thought that they were approaching us to ask for directions or something like that…..but in a matter of seconds, the bird flew close to us and grabbed Hodari for some reason and just flew away with Hodari still screaming in the air...We tried to follow the path of the bird, but the bird was flying so fast and we lost so much energy from the lack of food and water we have recently been experiencing. We went to both the Lion Guard and former Lion Guard to help with the issue and after like an hour of searching...we finally found Hodari's body with his internal organs ripped out after the bird finished eating them. Things only got worse after that, because within days of Hodari's death…...the rest of my float died due to the effects of the drought. After the last remaining member of my float died….I was now completely alone. A day after the death of that float member I was deciding on whether or not to just leave the Pride Lands since I no longer have anything to keep in the Pride Land. In my mind I decided to leave and was preparing to do so….until I heard that Simba had a special announcement for all the remaining Pride Landers. It turned out to be the announcement which said that everyone including the royals must leave the Pride Lands, stating that there was no hope in the lands returning to their original state...so we all left from there….." Makuu said, after which there was a thirty second pause and the out of nowhere...he slammed his hand on the podium, grabbing the attention of many in the audience.

"...Even when I have mostly moved on with my life since my transformation….but sometimes...I can't help but think that there could have been something I could have done to prevent some of the tragedy that fell upon my float…..because you know…..I was their leader…..I just wished there was something I could have done to save at least one of them….I know there were many aspects of the drought I couldn't control….I just wished there was SOMETHING I could have done to save one or at least diminished their suffering by a little bit….I JUST WISH THAT I COULD HAVE BEEN THE LEADER MY FLOAT NEEDED….SOMEONE TO SUPPORT AND COMFORT THEM WHILE STILL TRYING TO NAVIGATE US THROUGH THE DROUGHT….IF I COULD HAVE MADE A CHANGE TO MY LEADERSHIP STYLE THEN, I WOULD IF IT COULD HAVE SAVED AT LEAST ONE OF THEM OR AT LEAST DECREASED THEIR SUFFERING...PERHAPS I COULD HATE MYSELF LESS FOR MY HANDLING OF THE DROUGHT ON ITS IMPACT ON MY FLOAT….." Makuu said, practically yelling and on the verge of tears.

Makini soon went up to the stage to lead a now sobbing Makuu off the stage to the hallway and after that, Rafiki went back to the podium.

"Okay now….thank you Makuu for your share. Okay let's move on to the next part of tonight's meeting. Now it is time for the humans to also introduce yourselves and discuss why you joined our alliance let me just start reading the names off this sign up sheet…..Okay first up is….Camille Ashmore…" Rafiki said while looking at a clipboard.

**Ten minutes later**

Edwin P.O.V:

So far this conference seems to be going well and the hybrids' testimonies were quite interesting. Even things might have gotten a little awkward when Makuu broke down during his testimony, but he was just letting some feelings out. So far I have seen two human members of the museum faculty have given testimonies already and so far this event seems to be going in a good direction from what I can see so far.

"Okay….thank you John for your share. Next up on this list is….Edwin Mariani." Rafiki said, looking at the clipboard.

After he called my name, I rose from my seat and headed towards the stage, after which I went to the podium and tapped the microphone to see if it works.

"Hi, my name is Dr. Edwin Mariani and I work at the genetics lab on the upper floor. I joined this organization because I want to aid in improving relations between humans and hybrid employees and faculty so that communication can improve among staff members whenever any potential issues or conflict may come up during our work here, as well as to try to thin the division and communication among the two groups….Okay, here's a little about my life, I was born and raised here in Chicago- ACTUAL Chicago, NOT the suburbs. So yeah, I grew up in the Rogers Park neighborhood with my parents and younger sister and to human standards most would consider a standard childhood...except that my parents used to argue with each other constantly. They would argue at least every three days, so my sister and I were figuratively walking on eggshells everyday. I remembered that when I was a kid, whenever my parents started to argue, I basically just went to furthest corner of my bedroom and start reading any book that I had in my bedroom and if the corner wasn't good enough to avoid the sound, then I just grabbed flashlight and read under the covers of my bed. Sometimes, my sister would come into my room to join in to avoid hearing the arguing. If my parents were still arguing by the time either my sister or I stopped or finished reading, we would just turn on the television set in my room to see if it could drown out the sound. On the bright side my interests in reading back then really helped me academically in school….so yeah I received good grades in school. Even when I did well in school academically, that did not translate to my social life at school because when it came to interacting with my classmates, I was left out most of the time because I preferred to read or go on a computer rather than play sports or any of the other typical stuff kids did at the time. Even when I did have a few friends, we were left out my most of the so-called 'popular kids' in the school and there were times my friends got busy with other stuff and I ended up alone during our lunch period. You can guess that my favorite place to go in elementary school and middle school, during my recess or study hall period was the school library. Out of all of the books in the library, I took a particular interest in the science books since their content helped nurture my curiosities of the natural world and universe around me. I remember that I used to checkout at least one book per week. My curiosity further blossomed when I reached middle school and we got to complete more intricate labs and it enabled me to explore the execution of several of the principles I read about in textbooks and library books I read. Soon I eventually started to join science-based extracurricular activities, and this continued into my high school years. I even made a few more friends in high school, even when I was still kind of an outcast in my high school's social circle, but I didn't care about social stuff like that and besides most of the popular kids were assholes anyway. Even when I started to get a better sense of my identity and what my plan would be for life, I still had some emotional obstacles such as my parents' arguments getting more frequent, and there was also the loss of my grandmother to cancer, which was particularly devastating since she helped my sister and I cope when some parts of my parents' failing marriage got rough. Even when those obstacles occurred, I still managed to live my life and pursued what I needed to do academically and otherwise. As I got to college, it was a little boring because my university was located in the middle of a corn field in Indiana, everyday was essentially a routine for me and I didn't really make a lot of friends, but on the bright side my undergrad research experiences helped me get into my first choice grad school. During my four years of undergraduate studies, I experienced my first kiss,and I also learned how to drive when I went home for breaks and holidays. Then like two weeks after I officially got my driver's license at age 20, I got a phone call from my mom in which she first told me that she and my dad finally split up. Some would initially think that I would be shocked to find out my parents were getting a divorce, but I was actually relieved and my mother told that she was also relieved of the end of a bad marriage. She told me it happened when she and my father were having one of their usual arguments and then they both stopped for a moment to think what about what they were doing at that moment and what they've been doing for the past 21 years they have been married at the time and thought about why they were still doing this. They asked themselves why would two people, completely incompatible with each other, still married? My mom revealed that they initially had thought about separating several times over the course of the marriage, but kept using the 'stay together for the kids' excuse to justify them staying together...but at that point my sister and I were legal adults already, with my sister a month or two away from graduating high school, so their old excuses were no longer valid. They eventually realized that they did not want to spend the rest of their lives together….and that was when they finally decided to split up, my dad even moved out of the house a few days later. It was not a bad divorce, they basically divided their assets and whatnot and there was nothing major after that. My dad stayed at a friend's place for a while, until he found a place in Florida and moved there a week after my sister's high school graduation. So yeah, time passed by, I graduated college, went back to Chicago for grad school and I really started to improve my relationship with my mother. A few years after my parents split up, my mother confessed that after her divorce from my father, she started to think more deeply about her experiences in life and began to notice a part of herself that was hidden since she was younger due to pressures to conform to this close-minded perception of what society expected of her. She then decided to follow her own path and follow her own pursuit to build her true self….and one day she asked me to meet up and she came out to me as a lesbian. I was happy for her, I told her that all I cared about was her happiness and that I will love her no matter what. Ever since she came out, I saw a new side to my mother, one that is full of life and just happy just to be her truest self. Eventually I got my PhD, quit my previous job at Genico Pharmaceuticals and got a job here, so I guess you can say that is my story and all that I want to share tonight, sorry if it may seem a little long." I finished and then I quietly walked off the stage and returned to my seat.

"Thank you for your share Edwin….Next up is...Samuel Encinas." Rafiki said, looking at the clipboard.

The rest of the humans that shared were also interesting. It was interesting to get to know people thatI have not even seen since today, as well as getting to know more about the colleagues I do know. For example, I learned about how Pete had crippling social anxiety as a kid. I also learned about the experiences of a custodian who navigated the grief he felt when they lost their first spouse in a car accident, a tour guide who survived growing up with abusive parents, a security guard who used to be a star volleyball player in high school and college until a wrist injury placed a permanent hold on their former olympic prospects, and then there was a museum administrator who lost two family members due to gun violence. After the rest of the human employees shared their own life experiences, Rafiki went back up on the podium and tested the microphone.

"I would like to thank everyone who came here tonight and we hope to see you more in future meetings. The basic structures of meetings in upcoming Fridays will basically be sharing any experience or obstacle that is on your mind that day and then we will just try to do some activities so we can get a chance to know each other better as individuals. Again, thank you for coming to this meeting and I hope you have a good evening and rest of the week and if you have any further questions, feel free to contact me." Rafiki said before he turned off the microphone and left the podium.

We all started to get out of our seats, and even when I would like to stay and chat like some people are doing, I need to get something from my dry cleaner and I want to get there before they close for tonight. So I exited the museum and went to the parking lot. I started to approach my car.

"Hey Edwin!" a voice called, I turned around to see it was Jasiri who seemed to be walking towards me.

"Oh Hey Jasiri! what did you think of that meeting?" I asked.

"I thought it was pretty interesting and I liked what you shared by the way." Jasiri said.

"Thank you! I liked yours too! I was kind of thinking that our experiences in elementary and middle school had few similarities to one another." I replied.

"I know right? When you were discussing some of your childhood experiences, I was thinking that if we ever were in the same school or city, we probably would have been friends back then. I guess we were just at the wrong places at the time." Jasiri said, after which we shared a small laugh.

"Yeah, I wish I could stay to chat longer but I need to get something from my dry cleaner before they close. I'll see you later Jasiri!" I said.

"Alright, see ya! Oh and I am excited to see what Saturday night has in store for us." Jasiri said as she walked towards the other side of the parking lot.

I got in my car, started my ignition and started to drive out of the parking lot towards my dry cleaner. As I do, I could help but further think about what might go on during my date with Jasiri tonight. Will it go well? Will it go horrible? Will it lead to a potential relationship? Would we still be friends or even still talk to each other? I really hope it doesn't end badly….I guess I have to wait to find out.


	23. Second Date and a Brief Detour

Edwin P.O.V.

The rest of the week was pretty much routine in our lab and nothing really exciting happened that week….but then came Saturday.

I was incredibly nervous the first half because I want to make sure that my next date with Jasiri would not end up like the first one. Eventually when the time came, I picked up Jasiri from her building, and on our way, I think we even stopped at the same parking lot for her to transform. We went to the tea place, and we chatted for a little bit. So far the date seems to be going well and nothing awkward has happened yet.

"...and that's how my friend accidentally yanked off a handle from the Red Line train…." I said, discussing something that happened to my friend several years ago.

"Wait, that actually happened to your friend?" Jasiri said.

"Yeah….he was riding it one day and when the sharp turn after the Sheridan stop and when he fell down, I guess he applied too much tension and he yanked the handle off from the pole." I replied.

"Wow….the things that can happen to people sometimes. I remembered being on the 126 bus one time, I once sat three seats away from a guy who was knitting scarves on the bus for some completely random reason." Jasiri said.

"Wait...so some guy was just randomly making scarves on the bus?..." I asked.

"Yeah and he was just knitting some scarves and at one point he just started giving them to random people for absolutely no reason at all." Jasiri said and I started to chuckle a little bit when I heard this.

"Really?...Did you receive one by any chance?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Surprisingly….no, and I ride that bus frequently….." Jasiri said and we both shared a bit of a laugh.

"I wish I could say that is the weirdest thing either me or someone I've known seen on the bus, but that doesn't even make my top five." I said

"Really?...What was the weirdest thing you saw on a bus?" Jasiri said.

"Well it probably had to be the time I saw a guy singing Billy Joel songs while he fed a small pet goat that he hid in his jacket." I said, which seemed to provoke laughter from Jasiri.

"That can't be true…" Jasiri said in between laughs.

"I swear, I saw it with my own eyes…" I said while trying to hold my laughter.

We laughed for a little bit more and then I decided to grab another napkin and as I was about to grab a napkin from the small pile on our table…..I grabbed Jasiri's hand again, but this time it was not as awkward as the first time.

We stared at each other for a little bit, and after a couple seconds the two of us actually started to laugh again...but we didn't let go of each other's hands yet.

"Oh….this is a funny coincidence…we did this on our first date in almost the same circumstances" I said with a slight laugh afterwards.

"Yeah, I wish it ended better on the first date….again, sorry about that…" Jasiri said.

"It's no problem. If you are uncomfortable I can let go if you want-" I said, but to my shock I felt her hold my hand tighter.

"Actually….no that I'm over the insecurities that plagued me that night...I'm now starting to like it." Jasiri said as we continued to look at each other. We continued to hold our hands and stared at each other for a minute or two until we let go of our hands and continued our earlier conversation.

We stayed at the tea place for almost two hours, and I thought that tonight went so much better compared to the first date. We each paid for half of the check, we brought our ceramic dinnerware to the designated area and after we paid the server at their desk, we were on our way outside towards my car.

"So Jasiri, did you have a good time?" I said.

"Yes, I had a great time, I felt that tonight was much better than our first date….What did you think Edwin?" Jasiri asked.

"Yeah, I agree. I thought that tonight was great, I really enjoy spending time with you…" I replied.

"So do I…." Jasiri said while we looked into each other's eyes.

We soon approached my car where I unlocked the doors and we both got in. As we were sitting down, my attention was drawn to Jasiri when I heard her lightly yelp.

"Are you okay Jasiri? Did I accidentally leave something on your seat?" I asked.

"Oh no, I'm fine, I just sat on my tail again, happens all the time…" Jasiri said.

"Alright...oh wait...is it okay if on the way back to your place if we can stop by my apartment because I just need to get something I need to give to my landlord." I said.

"Sure, that's fine, I'm not in any rush or anything." Jasiri said.

I started the ignition of my car and I started to drive back to my apartment. Along the way, Jasiri and I continued to casually converse for a little bit.

"Sometimes I wish there's a more comfortable way of sitting down in my hybrid form because every time I sit down while in hybrid form I always sit on my tail and it hurts sometimes…" Jasiri said while out of the passenger side window.

"I understand how you feel, I'm only five foot five and sometimes it can get a little awkward when I meet up with one of my friends who is like six feet tall and it can be awkward reaching for items on high shelves." I replied.

We conversed for about fifteen more minutes until we arrived in the parking lot next to my building, we got out and approached the entrance to my building where I entered the code needed for me to unlock the door and we climbed up the three flights of stairs until we got to the front door of my apartment.

"Okay, I should probably apologize in advance because I have not really dusted my apartment in a while, so it might not be the cleanest apartment out there, so try not to judge me if my apartment seems a little messy." I said.

"Oh no, it's not a problem, you should see my apartment during most weeknights. I promise not to judge." Jasiri said in an optimistic tone.

I unlocked the door to my apartment, after which we both entered, I turned the lights on and we walked in.

"I'm sorry about this sudden detour, but I'll be back in like a minute or two." I said as I walked into the hallway towards my bedroom.

"It's no problem at all, take your time!" Jasiri said.

Jasiri P.O.V:

As Edwin went down the hallway to get the thing he needed for his landlord, I started to look around the room I was in for a little bit.

Edwin has a nice apartment from what I can see, sure it seemed slightly smaller than my apartment but I couldn't care less about that. Also I don't know why he apologized for his apartment being clean, it looks very well-kept and even when I see a few areas where there is dust, but that basically is in every apartment, including mine.

I looked around Edwin's living room and it seems to contain what is normally found in most living rooms with a sofa, a television, a few cabinets and a few picture frames on the wall. Most of the pictures were of generic nature scenes and a few of random places in Chicago. Then saw that a few feet from his coffee table was a small black bookshelf. I decided to take a look at it to see what books are in there. The majority of the book spines just listed the titles of books about genetics, biochemistry, and molecular biology. I also noticed there were a few books with French titles and there were some other books that had no titles listed on the spine.

"Would you like to borrow one?" a voice called, startling me in the process. I turned around to see that it was only Edwin who had a small white envelope presumably to give to his landlord.

"Oh hey Edwin….and no, I was just browsing at the moment." I replied.

"Okay, no problem….again sorry if my place is a bit of a mess." Edwin said.

"A mess? What are you talking about? Your apartment is very clean...Oh and I'm curious, I know you speak French and learned it in school, but did you first start learning it because you are of French descent or something or were you just interested in the language?" I asked.

"Yeah, I learned French because I was interested in the language. Shortly before I began my first year of middle middle school, I had to choose between French or Spanish as a foreign language, and I chose French because I wanted to do something different than the majority of people in my grade who decided to take Spanish. Eventually when I began sixth grade and started learning French, I eventually developed a deep interest in the language. Even as I further pursue my interests in the sciences, my interest in the language never left and I nurtured that side interest through reading French-language books and I even minored in French during my undergraduate years. Oh, and to answer your second question, I am not of French descent, I am mostly of Italian ancestry." Edwin replies.

"That's cool." I replied, and eventually Edwin began to turn towards the door.

"Anyway, I got what I need to give to my landlord, ready to go?" He asked

"Sure, no problem!" I replied.

"Okay let's go then." He said, as we walked out of his apartment.

We walked down the same flight of stairs as last time and when we got to the first floor, Edwin turned as I followed, and walked down a thin beige hallway. After walking twenty steps, he took the envelope he had in his hand and slid it under a door to the right, which I presumed where his landlord lives. We then left the building to head back to Edwin's car.

As we were on our way to my place, I couldn't help but look at each of the street lights we passed outside the window. I guess it intrigues me because similar to time, they are passing by fast after each passing moment. Sometimes I still wonder about my future because I've been in the human world for twenty one years and so far I went through multiple forms of school, got a job and mastered in navigating the human world, but I still have so much to do now. Usually a hyena will live up to twelve of fourteen years at best, so I never would have imagined making it the human age twenty eight and actually witnessing twenty one years pass by in a world I once never knew existed. Other than continuing my career in fossil preparation, the passing streetlights keep reminding me that there is so much that I need to explore when it comes to the unknowns of my future. Hopefully a promotion will come at some point in my life and who knows, Edwin might be my true love I spend the rest of my life with, though there is also the chance I could end up loving someone else but I definitely know I lost any last ounce of respect for Kion after physically beating me. Even when I am excited to see what the future might hold, I am also nervous because even when there is the possibility it could end up great…..there is also the possibility it could be my personal enfer.

Edwin P.O.V

After half an hour, we approached the front of Jasiri's building and I slowly approached the front door, I stopped my car.

"Okay, here we are, I hope you had a good time, and I apologize for the impromptu visit to my apartment." I said.

"It's okay, I actually had a great time tonight!" Jasiri said.

"I'm glad to hear that, Jasiri." I replied.

"Yeah! Also, can I talk to you outside of the car for a moment?" Jasiri asked.

"Sure, let me just set the car to park." I replied in a calm tone, though I was kind of nervous because I didn't know whether I did something that made her uncomfortable, or if she wants to discuss a secret with me, or even….potentially giving the "friendzone" speech I have heard from several other people in the past. I put on my car's parking brake and got out to walk towards Jasiri on the other side of the car as she got out and I noticed she had a conscientious expression on her face

"Is something wrong Jasiri? If I said something that made you uncomfortable, I am sorry for whatever the remark was." I said and after that, Jasiri started to smile and even let out a light laugh.

"Oh no Edwin, you did nothing. Like I said earlier, I had a great time tonight! This has actually been the best time I have had with anyone since before the drought. Since I first lived in the human world, I have dated around four or five people and each of those relationships have been either brief or dysfunctional and anytime I went on a date with them I never felt comfortable with any of them….but you are different from any of those guys. When I was with you, I felt a comfort I have not felt since I was with Janja and I can't help but think that perhaps we can go out with each other more often and we can go out a few more times including your high school reunion next week week to see whether we are compatible for a serious relationship. Whether it goes best case or worst case scenario, I really like spending time with you." She said, and in my mind I was happy to know that Jasiri had similar feelings for me to those I have for her.

"I would like that, I really like spending time with you too! You're a great person to be around, and it would be a pleasure to go out with you more often. My weekends would remain pretty boring if it weren't for your witty sense of humor and your contagiously bright personality. I feel the same way, because I have also had my fair share of relationship or dating issues in the past because I dated around three or four women in my life and each of those break-ups ended on a very awkward note...particularly my first girlfriend in the seventh grade but I'll tell you that story later. I definitely want to get to know each other better in the future. I also had a great time tonight, I hope we get to spend more time together and I hope you rest well tonight" I said.

As I said that, Jasiri walked up and hugged me all of the sudden. I was initially surprised at first but soon I started to get more relaxed and hugged her back. The hug felt nice, the fur on Jasiri's arms felt so soft and I couldn't help but develop this feeling of comfort in the hug. The hug lasted for a few more seconds until we naturally let each other go.

"Thank you Edwin! I hope you rest well too! I'll see you later this week!" Jasiri said, as she walked inside her apartment building, winking at me at the last two words.

I eventually headed back to my car to drive back to my place.

Jasiri P.O.V.

As I walk back upstairs towards my apartment, I cannot help but constantly think of the great time I had tonight with Edwin. I have not felt this comfortable on a date in years. Perhaps that encounter I had with Janja and Madoa was onto something….could Edwin be the missing piece to my life….perhaps we should start a relationship….but not yet because I don't want to reveal anything too soon and make things awkward between us. Also sometimes I still debate whether that encounter with Janja and Madoa was real or just an incredibly weird dream because it felt real and I even remember the sounds and sensations of touching the objects that, including hearing and seeing the broken vase, only for it to be perfectly intact in the morning. I guess all I can say is that I have some thinking to do, but first I need some rest for the rest of the night.

I arrived at my apartment at 11:30 P.M. and from there, I just changed into some more comfortable clothes, plugged my phone to the charger and went to sleep.


	24. Chapter 24: The Reunion Part 1

Edwin P.O.V.

This week at the museum was actually quite eventful because this was the interns last week of their summer research projects. On Thursday, they all presented their research posters in the hallway outside of the lab and I thought that they were quite interesting in my opinion. After that, we had a small gathering that included some food and we said our farewells to the summer interns. Even when it was a little sad to see the interns leave to prepare to go back to school, all week I was kind of nervous for this weekend because my ten-year high school reunion is this Saturday. Jasiri is my plus one, and friend Kendall is also meeting up with us with her new boyfriend Jamal; I told Jasiri about it and she was totally fine with it and couldn't wait to meet one of my high school friends ahead of time. Plus, perhaps our outing being a double date could alleviate potential nervousness or stress before the event. Another reason that I'm nervous is that I have not spoken or contacted many of them in almost ten years and I'm curious to see exactly how much has changed with them.

Anyways, we went to our usual table in the cafe for our lunch break and just chatted as usual.

"I can't believe that the summer interns are finished with their summer research, and I was just starting to get to know them, particularly that one who frequented the Thermocycler in our lab, what was their name…..Laraine! That was it! Yeah I'm going to miss her...I hope she interns here again next summer…" Makini said.

"Oh yeah, I loved her too, I also found Konjit to be a remarkably intelligent young woman, although she does seem to be shy at times, either way she was an intelligent, curious and open-minded person." Vuruga said.

"Oh….and remember Ron, who used to always be late for the morning briefing sessions…" Pete said.

"Yeah, I remembered him and there was also Sabryna who was always the first one there, sometimes showing up an hour early." I said.

"Then there was Franco who always seemed to have the most unexpecting conversation topics whenever we got to chat with them during breaks." Bupu said.

"I know how you guys feel, today was the last day for the interns in our department too. I remembered we had one named Yosef who used to be a major help for us in many of our projects…." Jasiri said.

"Although he used to bud into our conversations a lot, but he was nowhere as bad as Wilson, who was constantly distracted from his work and even did some light damage on one of our specimens. I couldn't count how many times I have critiqued or yelled at him over the past couple of months. Although not all of the interns were bad, I liked that one intern, Madhavi, she was nice and focused on her work." Makuu said.

"So what are you guys up to this weekend?" Vuruga asked.

"Well this weekend I have some gathering with people from my self-defense class, How about you guys?" Makini said.

"Nothing special, just my usual weekend routine." Bupu said.

"Same." Makuu replied.

"Actually, Ma Tembo invited me to one of her yoga class's sessions so I will be trying that out on Saturday." Pete said.

"That's cool! I actually tried it once and let's just say that sometimes, Ma Tembo's session could do some intense poses. After that, I just decided to stick with pottery as a hobby and if I decide to to take up yoga again, I'll make sure to take a beginner's class next time." Vuruga replies.

"Yeah I would probably do the same if I were you. All I will be doing is just going bowling with a couple of friends tomorrow. What are you doing this weekend Vuruga?" Beshte said.

"I actually will be attending a session of my pottery class this Sunday while Saturday I will mostly just complete some errands. What about you Edwin, what are you up to this weekend?" Vuruga asked me.

"Well actually tomorrow Jasiri and I are going to my ten-year reunion for my old high school." I replied.

"That sounds interesting, I remembered going to my ten year reunion a few years ago and it was good to see some of my old friends, but many others continued to mention the 'sloppy legs' story over and over again. It also didn't help that the girl involved in the 'sloppy legs' story, who is now my sister-in-law, showed up with my brother, which only encouraged propagation of the story. I wish you luck with yours Edwin." Pete said.

"Yeah same, to be honest, I just skipped my ten-year reunion, it would have just been too awkward for me to see everyone that used to pick on me, although I did have a few friends in high school, we just met separately at another location so no one will point fingers at me when I get to my mandrill form." Makini said.

"I know how you feel Makini, I went to my ten-year reunion, and I transformed into my hippo form at some point, and all of them, except for a few close friends, just moved as far away from me as possible….Wait Jasiri? Aren't you worried about how Edwin's former classmates will see you in your hyena form?" Beshte said.

"To be honest, I am a little nervous but to be honest, I do not think there will be any reactions that I have not already seen before." Jasiri said.

"Okay, and just in case any of their reactions might get too bothersome for you, we can leave any time you start to feel uncomfortable…" I replied.

"Thanks for understanding my concerns...though I don't think there will be any major problems involving it." Jasiri said.

"You're welcome and actually, my ten year reunion already happened two months ago but I never went. High school was pretty much torture for me, and I was never really close with anyone in high school except for two people; which were a single friend and an ex-boyfriend, and the ex-boyfriend and I had an awkward break-up, so now the single friend is the only person from my high school that I still talk to." Jasiri said.

"Yeah, I feel you Jasiri, I kind of had a similar situation in high school as well, the friends I really had were just some people I was on the volleyball team with." Makini said.

"Really?...You played volleyball?" Pete asked.

"Yeah, I played during my four years of high school, I was moderately good at it, I wasn't the best at it….but it wasn't the worst at it either." Makini said lightly chuckling at the end.

"Yeah, I feel you Makini, I was the same with the chess club at my high school, I enjoyed it but I knew that I was not the number one player in the club." I replied.

Soon we continued talking about other topics of the day, after our lunch break we went back to our labs to work and I have to say….the lab is pretty quiet without the interns around. The rest of the day, we continued our research and nothing else really went on that day.

The next day, I am getting my place ready for Jasiri, Kendall and Jamal to come over. I dusted, vacuumed, sweeped and cleaned around my apartment. I finished cleaning at around 12:00 PM and I decided to get dressed in some formal clothes to attend the event tonight. So I went to my room and put on several items of formal clothing, which include a white button-down shirt, a grey suit jacket with matching pants, black dress shoes and black tie. After putting on these clothes, I placed my hair in a ponytail to make sure it doesn't get in my eyes.

As I continued to do some last minute prepping for my guest, I heard the text tone ring from my phone, I saw it was a text from Jasiri that states:

Hey Edwin, I just want to let you know that I am five minutes away from your place, possibly later if the Lyft gets stuck in traffic.

I just replied with: okay, no problem.

After I got dressed, I went into my kitchen where I grabbed a glass pitcher from one of my cabinets and I filled it with water and after placing it on the counter. Just in case someone wanted tea, I took out some tea bags and I heated another kettle of water on the stove and placed it on the counter after it finished heating up. I also placed a pound cake I bought at a store.

Mere seconds after I placed the pound cake on the counter, I heard the buzzer by my front door sound. I walked over to the buzzer and pressed the buzzer to see who was there.

"Hello, who is this?" I asked through the intercom.

"It's Jasiri, I just arrived at the door." Jasiri replied.

"Okay, I'm going to unlock the front door for you and you can just come upstairs to my apartment." I said as I pressed another button to let her in the building.

I finished placing plates on the kitchen counter for the pound cake, and as I placed the last plate on the counter, I heard a knock on my door, which made me go in a beeline towards the door. I asked who was behind the door, to which Jasiri said it was her. I opened the door to see Jasiri in her human form, wearing the same dress she wore at the gala a month ago but with a different pair of shoes whose heels were half the size of the ones she wore at the gala last month. She also wore a light code of what appeared to be lipstick that was the same shade as her lips without makeup, which was just a brownish pink color.

"Hi Edwin! How's it going?"Jasiri said as she came in and we gave each other a hug.

"I'm good Jas, just getting some stuff ready, and Kendall and Jamal will be here in about ten minutes so you can just have a seat, relax or whatever. Would you like a slice of pound cake, or anything to drink?" I asked as Jasiri walked into my place.

"What do you have to drink?" She asked.

"Well I have some ice water, but I also have some tea if you prefer a warmer beverage?" I replied.

"I think I would prefer the tea, thank you." Jasiri said.

"Would you prefer chai, jasmine, hibiscus…" I said going through my tea bags.

"Chai would be fine." Jasiri said.

I grabbed two of the ceramic mugs I laid out on the counter, filled them both with the water from the tea kettle and I placed a chai tea bag in one for Jasiri, along with a hibiscus tea bag in the other one for myself.

I brought the mugs to the coffee table and took a seat next to Jasiri.

"So, how's it going Jasiri, anything interesting going on in the fossil lab?" I asked.

"Nothing much, though it will be much quieter since the interns left." She said.

"Yeah, it's the same with us in the genetics lab, the interns were such a presence in our lab and even when I have only been at the museum for over two months, I felt that they were a major presence in the lab this summer." I said.

"Yeah, I understand how you feel." Jasiri said.

We talked for a few more minutes until I heard my door buzzer sound off again. I walked up to it and pressed the button .

"Who is it?" I asked the intercom.

"Hi Edwin, it's Kendall, Jamal and I are at the front door, can you please let us in?" A voice called.

"Sure thing Kendall, I'll unlock the front door and when you come in, just either walk up or take the small elevator to the third floor and my place will be on the first door to the left." I said.

"Okay, thank you." Kendall replied back.

I went back to the coffee table to notify Jasiri of Kendall and Jamal's arrival. We continued to chat for two minutes until I heard a knock on the door. Jasiri and I stood up and I opened the door to see it was the couple themselves.

Kendall was about the same height as me about 5'5, she had brown eyes, around which she wore a thin layer of eye shadow, while wearing dark red lipstick. She had black curly hair that was tied into a bun, wearing a cyan dress with thin straps and black shoes. She also carried a brown handbag with her. The man with her, who I assume is Jamal is around 5'8, with brown eyes, short dark hair and wearing a pair of frameless glasses. He wore a black suit jacket over a white undershirt with a navy blue tie, along with black dress slacks and a pair of black shoes.

As I opened the door, I was excited to see my long-time friend since it has been over a year or two since I last saw her in-person.

"Hey Kendall, long-time no-see old friend!" I said while we gave each other a hug.

"Same, I think it's been almost two years since we met up with each other. How's life been for you?" Kendall said as she entered the apartment.

"It's been good, as you know I am doing my genetic research at the Field Museum now, I left Genico Pharmaceuticals almost three months ago. I'm much happier now than I was then." I said.

"That's good to hear, how's your research there going?" Kendall asked.

"My research is going well, thanks for asking, although some items might get a little tedious since our interns' summer shifts ended. How's your life?" I asked.

"My life is going great, I just got a promotion, I am now a marketing coordinator for the Chicago regional office of Whole Foods." Kendall replied back.

"That's amazing Kendall, just out of curiosity….do you think you can try giving an old friend a discount on a few items?" I said, jokingly asking a later question.

"Trust me, I tried asking the others if I could get a discount on Whole Foods merchandise and long story short it didn't work, so the chances of me getting it for you are slim." Kendall replied.

"Damn…" I jokingly replied.

"Oh and to add on to our conversation about our lives, this is my boyfriend Jamal…" She gestured towards the man next to her.

"Nice to meet you Jamal." I said as I shook his hand.

"Likewise, it's a pleasure to meet you too." Jamal said as Jasiri came closer to the group.

"Hi Kendall! Hi Jamal! My name's Jasiri, and I am Edwin's date for the reunion. It's a pleasure to meet you guys." Jasiri said as she shook each of their hands.

"Yes, it's nice to meet you too and I have to say, I love your dress. It looks perfect on you!" Kendall said enthusiastically.

"Thank you! I had recently had it dry cleaned. I love your dress as well! It really matched with your bag!" Jasiri said.

Third Person P.O.V.

"Thank you! So, just out of curiosity, how do you know Edwin?" Kendall asked her.

"Oh, Edwin and I both work at the Field Museum, except he works in the genetics lab while I work in the fossil lab." Jasiri said.

"That's cool, so you actually handle the bones and fossils the museum receives, such as the ones that go on exhibit?" Kendall asked.

"Yes, I aid in the handling and preparation of all of them. Even when Edwin and I work in different departments, we still get together during our lunch breaks and even outside of work we talk to each other, we've actually been on two dates already.." Jasiri said.

"Really?! Two dates? That's good for both of you? Are you guys seeing each other or…" Kendall asked, which provoked Jasiri to approach Kendall's ear to whisper something.

"I'm trying to get to the relationship level but we seem to be taking it slow for now to see what it feels like." Jasiri said.

"I totally get it, that was essentially my first month with Jamal." Kendall said, which caused both of them to let out a laugh.

"So Edwin told me the two of you went to high school together.."Jasiri said.

"Yeah, we both went to Hemingway together, as well as hung out on multiple occasions, even when we did not have a lot of classes together. We still managed to maintain contact with each other despite going to different colleges and different career paths. Just out of curiosity, did you go to high school here in Chicago as well?" Kendall said.

"Oh no, I actually went to school in Milwaukee." Jasiri said.

"That's a funny coincidence, I have a cousin that lives in Milwaukee! I believe in the Story Hill area." Kendall said.

"Oh yeah, I know where that neighborhood is. I lived in the Havenwoods area….Also just out of curiosity, sorry if this is an inappropriate question but when you guys were in high school...did you and Edwin ever….dated?." Jasiri said.

After Jasiri asked that question, Kendall laughed a little bit.

"Oh no….Edwin and I never dated….we were and will always only be friends and besides, even if he was interested in me, I already was focusing much of my romantic intentions on another guy we knew back then." Kendall replied, while Jasiri took a mental sigh of relief

Edwin P.O.V:

While we continued to chat with each other, I want to get to know Jamal better since I have never met him before.

"So Jamal, how long have you and Kendall been dating?" I asked.

"We've been dating for about seven months, we first met at a speed dating event at this hotel and after that we exchanged contact info, went on a few dates and soon after that we were in a relationship." He replied.

"That's cool, so have you lived in Chicago for a long time?" I asked.

"Not exactly, I lived here for about three years, I grew up in Seattle, and completed both my undergrad and graduate studies at Penn. Eventually I got a position as a programmer for a company here in Chicago and I moved from Philadelphia to here." Jamal said.

"Interesting, which company do you work for exactly?" I asked.

"I work for a company called CodeNet, in which we aid in the coding for the software for many medical groups across both Chicago and other cities and towns across Illinois." Jamal said.

"Oh yeah, I've heard of that company before. I have a friend who is a resident at Rush University Medical Center and they have told me that they frequently use software from CodeNet." I said.

"Oh yes, Rush is a frequent client of our services. So Kendall told me that you guys have known each other for fourteen years, is that right?" Jamal asked, I nodded in response.

"Yeah, we met each other during our freshman year of high school, we were in the same Intro to Orchestra class at the time, I played double bass and she played the violin. After that class we started to talk to each other more during the passing period and found out that we had two more classes together that year. We began to hang out both at school and outside of school much more frequently, even when we had less and less classes in later years of high school with me having a more STEM-based curriculum while Kendall had a more social science based curriculum, although we continued to have orchestra classes together as an elective because our high school required that we take at least one humanities course, plus we found it as a common hobby outside. After we graduated we managed to stay in-touch with each other and occasionally meet up with each other from time-to-time." I replied.

"That's cool, did you guys ever….dated when you were in high school?" Jamal asked, to which I responded with light laughter.

"Kendall and I never dated in high school, we were and still are only friends. Kendall and I are more like relatives rather than romantic interests, and even if I did have any interest in her, she wouldn't have paid attention because she was interested in this other guy in high school….I think his name was Julius...yeah that was it….Julius Steele.." I said as Kendall and Jasiri walked closer to us.

"Oh yeah, I remembered Julius Steele….I used to have a crush on him in high school, but he never gave me the time of day. Eventually I just gave up and I have not really heard from or seen that guy since graduation." Kendall said.

"Yeah, I think the last time I heard about him, Karolina Ricupero told me that he now lives in Houston where he is a geologist for Rice University." I said.

"Oh that's interesting, I always knew that he had an interest in geosciences so that does not surprise me." Kendall said.

"That's funny because geoscience was one of my majors in undergrad, along with anthropology." Jasiri said.

This conversation continued for two more minutes before I realized that I forgot to offer additional guests something to drink or eat.

"Hey, Kendall, Jamal, I am so sorry but I forgot to offer you guys something to drink or eat. If you want I have some pound cake and I have some water or tea if you want?" I asked.

"That's okay, but since you offered, some water would be nice." Kendall said.

"Yeah, I would like one too, along with a slice of pound cake." Jamal said.

"No problem, coming right up." I said, while I headed to the kitchen.

As my three guests continued to converse in the living room, I prepared the beverage and pieces of pound cake. Along with a plate for Jamal, I also made a plate for myself. I first served the beverages to my guests before I brought the pound cake. After bringing the pound cake, we talked for five minutes and then Kendall reached into her handbag and took out a wide book with a thin binding. The book had a light blue cover with some golden yellow root-like designs on it and on the tips of three of the root-like designs, listed the letters "H", "C", and "P" in an almost triangular orientation. I then read the spine of the book which had gold-yellow letters that read "Ernest Hemingway College Prep High School 2009". I could recognize this book as our high school yearbook since I also own a copy.

"Hey Edwin, guys, since the reunion doesn't really begin until 4:00, I was thinking that we could browse through a few pages from our old yearbook to help pass through the time, how does that sound?" Kendall asked.

The rest of us just nodded and agreed to peruse the yearbook for a little bit. As we started looking at the yearbook, some old memories of that time came back that I have not really thought of in years, including some of the classes I took, the people that were in them, the clubs I was in and even some of the teachers I had. When we got to the pages of the faculty departments, I immediately recognized my old AP Calc teacher's perm in the math department photo. Despite his outdated hairstyle,I remembered that he was a cool guy, but man his class was tough, especially the exams...I wonder if he still works at Hemingway. There were also photos of other teachers I had in some of the other faculty pages, ranging from my old AP Bio teacher that used to play music in their classroom when they have no classes, to my old French teacher that used to tell us about their mornings before we began our lessons for each class period. Also at one point, we saw an old photo of me and Kendall in our old orchestra class handling our string instruments. I pretty much had the same long hair then as I do now, but I remembered at the time of the photo, that was the day I tried to experiment with curling my hair and I ended up looking like Weird Al Yankovic for the day, while Kendall's hair was in a braided ponytail compared to the bun she has on today. I blushed when we came upon seeing that picture, while the other three just started laughing….even I started to laugh after a few seconds.

"Edwin….what was up with your hair then?" Jasiri said between laughs.

"Oh shit! I forgot about this picture, that was the first and last time I experimented with my hair in that way." I said while the rest continued to laugh.

"Yeah, I remembered, you practically got roasted all that day and even after you straightened it people still talked about it for a week." Kendall said.

"Yeah...including my own family….my dad didn't stop calling me a 'Weird Al wannabe' until a year after that" I said.

"Moving on from the hair Edwin, you told me the truth when you said you played the double bass, but that bass looked heavy, how did you carry that thing around?" Jamal asked.

"Our high school used block scheduling, so that even when there are seven classes listed on our schedule, they were divided into two groups that each had four classes, with at least one of those classes being present in both blocks depending on the class or classes, so when I had block 1 classes on one day, I had my block 2 classes the next day, and block 1 after that and so on. Essentially I only had that orchestra class every other day, although when I did have it, I got some awkward stares when I carried that thing to and from school on the Red Line. Even when I eventually got used to it, sometimes I still got annoyed at it because I do a bit of my homework on the train both to and from school." I said.

"Yeah, I get it Edwin, when I was in school, I used to use to complete some of my homework on the bus rides home." Jasiri said.

"Same, I did that too." Jamal said.

"Just out of curiosity, do you still play double bass?" Jamal asked.

"Actually yes, I still play it on occasion during my free time. So Kendall, do you still play violin?" I asked.

"Sometimes but not that frequently." Kendall said

"I totally understand how you feel, sometimes it can be difficult." I replied back.

After browsing through several more pages of the yearbook we stopped at the photo of the girl's volleyball team, which Kendall was in at the time. We then encountered a photo on that page in which it was a seventeen year old Kendall in her light blue and gold volleyball uniform and unfortunately this photo if of the time a player from Baker High's volleyball team spiked a volleyball that accidentally hit Kendall on the head.

"Oh man, I remember this, that was when someone from the Baker team spiked a ball to my head. Even when I knew that the player did it by accident, I still felt that hit for a couple of hours after the incident. I remembered that when I first saw this in the yearbook, I went to the person who photographed it to ask them why they used it for the yearbook and all they claimed was that it was a good action shot, but I think that they used that photo most likely for their own amusement." Kendall said.

As I looked at the picture and saw the Baker player, I saw that along with her green and gold uniform, they also had short brown hair, black-framed sports goggles and what appear to be green irises. For some reason, the player looked vaguely familiar to me.

After the volleyball team page, we looked through the other team and club photos in our yearbook which included our National Honor Society photo, my Science Olympiad photo, Kendall's debate team photo, my environmental club photo, Kendall's Spanish Club photo, and my French club photo. We then moved on to the individual senior year photos. In mine, my hair was just the same long brown hair that I have now, wearing a black suit jacket with a grey button down shirt and a blue tie in front of a blue background. My senior year quote was something from a Ralph Ellison book I read in an English class I had a year before I graduated. The quote stated: "Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in the face of certain defeat" -Ralph Ellison.

We soon got to Kendall's picture, it had the same blue background as in my picture, while she was wearing a sleeveless burgundy wrap dress with her somewhat long black hair in a wavy hairstyle. Her senior quote was from a book about Helen Keller that she talked to me about that year, which stated: "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all-Helen Keller".

As we finished looking at the rest of the yearbook, I quickly remembered something.

"Hey guys, I just remembered that I have some photos from high school in my closet, would you like to see some?" I asked.

Everyone pretty much responded with "Sure, why not", so I went to my closet to find the white envelope of photos and brought it back to the living room so that we were able to peruse through the photos, with the first one was with one of me, Kendall and a few of our other friends sitting in fold-up chairs in-front of the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue.

"Oh yeah, I remember this! We were sixteen and this was when the first iPhone came out and we went to the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue to buy one. Gathering each one of our savings from babysitting, doing odd jobs and alliances we received from our parents, we used our money to buy each of our phones. Who knew that about twelve years later, that would be the first of several phones we would eventually attach a large chunk of our lives to." I said.

"Yeah, I remember this, it was chaos when we got inside the building. I remembered that I was grabbing an iPhone and some guy was approaching behind me and I thought he was going to steal my phone, so I elbowed him in the face. I definitely regret it now, but I guess I was caught up in the hype at the time." Kendall said.

"Oh yeah, and then you found out that the guy you elbowed was our friend Marino, who was trying to get the phone next to the one you were trying to grab. Although I remembered that he eventually got an iPhone that day, despite his swelling and bleeding nose, you guys eventually talked it out later on, after we left the store with our new phones." I said.

"Yeah, though I am still curious about what Marino has been up to lately, I have not seen him in person since graduation, though I follow him on Instagram, he seems to be doing well." Kendall said.

"Oh yeah, I think Marino now works for the math department at Loyola." I said.

"Yeah, I heard that too, I think he became an assistant professor there." Kendall said.

Jasiri P.O.V.

As we looked through the rest of the photos, I thought that it was interesting looking at these photos of Edwin during his teen years, we looked through photos from his prom, his extracurriculars and even some from outside of school. While placing some photos back on the coffee table, I noticed that one accidentally fell off the table, so I picked it up and turned it over to look at it. The photo turned out to be an old holiday card. It had a blue background and the top had the words "Happy Holidays from the Marianis, 2008" written in white letters. With a few small white snowflake designs surrounding the picture. As I looked at the picture, I saw it depicts a family standing on the concrete steps in front of a dark brown wooden door in a dark reddish-brown brick wall. As I took a closer look at the family in the photo, I saw that each person in the photo looked miserable, with each of them having blank expressions on their faces.

One of them, a teenage male that I immediately recognized as Edwin, was wearing a grey button-down shirt, a blue tie and black dress pants. He looked about seventeen years old in the photo. There was another teenager, but a female with long dark blonde hair, with greenish-hazel eyes, and was wearing a red and white blouse with a black skirt. She looked about fifteen in this photo, so I assume that the young woman is the younger sister Edwin told me about, while the two older adults in the back are probably their parents. The woman appears to be in her late-forties while the male appeared to be in his mid-fifties. The woman had moderately long brown hair with brown eyes, and a black dress and the man also had dark brown hair with some noticeable grey patches in his hair. He also had blue eyes, frameless glasses and was wearing a black dress shirt, red tie and black dress pants.

The bottom of the card also had an inscription which read "and a Happy New Year from Sabino, Julia, Edwin and Katrina". It was kind of interesting to see the blank, serious expressions on their faces because the winter holidays usually had a joyous connotation, but on the other hand Edwin did tell me his parents used to fight a lot before they got divorce, so I guess it wasn't that surprising.

"What are you looking at Jasiri?" Edwin asked, which briefly startled me for a little bit, before I handed him the photo, before passing it to Kendall.

"Oh my gosh, I remembered this! This was the last of the holiday cards my family used to do for the holidays, I always hated it. My sister and I were basically dragged into that shit every year, with our parents forcing us to participate in their facade to cover up their flawed marriage. They thought that a decorative Christmas card would cover up the arguing they did at least once a week. Eventually, when Katrina and I got older, and as our parents' marriage continued to deteriorate, it became much harder to hide the charade and when that card was taken, Katrina and I just got tired of playing the sharade and no matter how many times we took the photo, neither of us nor our parents could really hide the tension going on there, so we just picked the best photo out of the ones and we basically stopped doing that tradition that year, and our parents still didn't divorce until two and a half years after that photo was taken." Edwin said.

"Yeah, I think I did remember that you complained about holiday cards at least once every year when we were in high school." Kendall said.

"My family never did holiday cards, when I was younger my family just invited relatives whom I barely knew, telling the same stories every year and obsessing over table centerpieces for some strange reason. Although I did a fair amount of holiday money from some of those relatives, so that's a bit of a bright side." Jamal said.

"Yeah, I was not really big on the holidays either, my parents are such perfectionists and everything had to go their way or nothing when it came to the holidays. I hated it and tried to pretend I was sick every year at that time, but they never fell for it except for the one year I actually did get sick when I was nine. When I was fourteen I began to take volunteer opportunities at soup kitchens and food pantries every holiday, and by that point, the perfectionism from my parents started to wane down when they finally acknowledged that I was growing up and able to make my own decisions in how I want to spend my freetime. What about you Jasiri, what were the holidays like for you?" Kendall said.

"Well….when I was in Tanzania, I did initially enjoy some of the holidays I celebrated there, but when I was nine I moved to the US and I was never really a fan of the holidays commonly celebrated here because of all the commercialization involved in them. Plus Ma-...uhh my legal guardians and I were still trying to adjust to the move, with one of them even going back to school." I carefully said, trying not to reveal all the details of my life to Edwin's friends right now.

"Yeah, I totally understand how you feel. So since you said you were with your legal guardians, I imagine that your parents were no longer in the picture?" Kendall asked.

"Yeah, both my parents died when I was really young, so I was with legal guardians during most of my youth." I replied, thinking back to the dark moments of my past, including those from the drought.

"That's unfortunate, I'm sorry that we brought it up." Jamal said.

"It's fine, it was a long time ago and I actually liked my legal guardians anyway. Eventually, I grew up, went to UW Milwaukee for undergrad, UCLA for my PhD and then ended up moving to Chicago and got a job at the Field Museum." I said.

"Impressive. I hear that UCLA is an excellent grad school!" Jamal said.

"Yeah, it is, but it was also challenging in some cases but I expected that when I first came there." I said with a slight smirk on my face.

"Funny thing, the first time we hung out she initially told me she went to UCLA for undergrad and UIC for grad school, but in her defense we went for a long jog that day and she was still exhausted from it, she eventually told me about UW Milwaukee and UCLA later that day…" Edwin said before I pitched in to finish.

"Although at one point I was an intern at UIC, that was during one summer during my undergrad years." I replied.

"Okay, that's cool." Jamal said.

"Yeah, that's cool, although I did outrun her in that jog though." Edwin said playfully, after which I responded with a playful punch to the arm.

"Oh please, I only went a little slower than you and that was solely because I was a little dehydrated. I would have ran faster than you." I said.

"If that's what you say." Edwin playfully said.

" Hey guys, it's almost 4:30, want to start heading for the reunion?" Kendall asked, and we agreed and began to get up and returned our plates to Edwin's kitchen and prepared to leave.

We soon got our stuff and we walked out the door, and as soon as I got out the door, Edwin gestured to me to come closer, which I did and he began to whisper to me.

"I just want to let you know, just in case you start to feel uncomfortable during the reunion, we can leave anytime you want. I'm sorry if this is so sudden, I just want everything to be alright for-" Edwin whispered before I interrupted him with a slight hug.

"Don't worry Edwin, I'll be alright. I have transformed into my hyena form in front of strangers before. I think everything will be just fine. Sure, some people might stare or gawk but I am used to most of that by now." I said to him while releasing the hug, when we heard Kendall call to us.

"Hey guys, I'm sorry to interrupt you guys, but Edwin can you please lead us to your car?" Kendall said.

"Oh yeah, sure, we'll be right there!" Edwin said, after which all of us started heading downstairs.

Then walked outside of Edwin's building into the parking lot, where we began to walk towards Edwin's black car. We soon entered the car, with me sitting in the passenger seat.

"Okay, just to make sure, everyone has umbrellas with them right? Because I heard it is going to rain later tonight." Edwin said.

All of us replied that we had our umbrellas, soon after that Edwin started the car and started to drive. I soon began to become slightly more pensive because I am still trying to determine where I am with Edwin right now. Are we going towards the full-blown relationship path or is it going to fizzle out after only three dates. I really hope that there is a possibility for a relationship with Edwin, but I also thought the same thing about Kion and looked how that turned out. But no, Edwin is different, he doesn't talk all about himself like Kion did nor mistreat me like he did. Edwin actually cares about my well-being, he's open-minded and actually listens to me while I talk. But on the other hand, I feel-like I might still need more time to really learn more about Edwin to see if we are compatible for a relationship. I am hoping that we can begin a romantic relationship at some point, but if or when that will happen….only time will tell.


End file.
